• Sweets on the Green

    A Decade of Decadent Desserts By Andra Moss How is your naughty versus nice rating? Those needing to influence Santa with an especially impressive treat should grab their stockings and head to the Norfolk Historical Society (NHS) for the 10th Annual Cake Auction on Saturday, Dec. 7.     Now a Norfolk holiday tradition, the event was […]

  • Artist Tom Burr Brings His Torrington Project to an End

    Performances celebrate studio closing By Stephen Melville Norfolk resident and artist Tom Burr organized a day of performances and exhibition at his studio in Torrington on Oct. 26, marking an end to what he has called “The Torrington Project.” For the past three and a half years, Burr has rented a vast—15,000 square foot—former industrial […]

  • New Meanings for a Monument

    Light Shines on the Memorial Green By Joe Kelly On Monday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day, a crowd of about 100 gathered for the rededication of Norfolk’s World War 1 memorial, artfully restored under the auspices of the Norfolk Community Association. It was sunny. Temperatures in the low ‘60’s. Another day of no rain. Everyone talked […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This 1920s postcard shows Memorial Green just after the War Memorial, designed by Alfredo Taylor, was built. It was Taylor’s wife Minna who first proposed that a memorial “heroes grove” be planted on the small lot of land known as the Triangle opposite the Catholic Church. The lot had been left empty with the demolition […]

  • Restored war memorial to be celebrated on veterans day

    plaque now honors all who served By Patricia Platt A World War I monument, designed by Alfredo Taylor and erected on Norfolk’s Memorial Green in 1921, bears the inscription, “for those who gave and those who offered their lives for liberty, the people of Norfolk have built this monument and crowned it with the Liberty […]

  • NLT Tail Ablaze with Runners

    More than 120 runners enjoyed perfect fall weather as they wound their way through picturesque Barbour Woods in the 11th Annual Norfolk Land Trust Trail Race. Some chose to add a challenging loop over Haystack Mountain, while the half-marathoners just kept moving on up—topping out at over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. *photo by June […]

  • Can you spot the Real Curler?

    There was movie magic ice to be made, and the pros of the Norfolk Curling Club were the first to get the call. In October, NCC’s Jon Barbagallo, Lou Barbagallo, Rachel Barbagallo, Mark Walsh, Harvey Chalmers and Phill West were hired by a production company to make curling ice at a Rhode Island hockey rink […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This 1917 photograph is a timely reminder of the long struggle fought by many dedicated women for basic civil liberties, including the right to own property, hold public office, sit on juries, participate in public assemblies and vote. The group of 25 suffragists—20 women and five men—gathered on the porch following their meeting with Congressman […]

  • The chicken who wanted to be a star and other tales from a norfolk movie set

    By Andra Moss Secrets and small towns don’t often pair well, and Norfolk is a small town. Yet, for eight weeks this summer, a crew of nearly 100 people quietly transformed Tim and Paula Webster’s 1908 Norfolk farmhouse into a film set for a feature-length production, all the while staying under the local radar.  It […]

  • great blue heron rookeries

    working together to provide sustainable breeding habitats By Jude Mead Great Blue Herons are a familiar sight in Norfolk and are one of the largest of all North American herons, standing up to four feet tall with a wingspan of close to six feet. They are most noticeable in flight as they soar across the […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    Tennis at Town Hall? The building we know as Town Hall was originally the Eldridge Gymnasium, built in 1892. Located within easy walking distance of hotels and boarding houses in Norfolk at the turn of the last century, the Gymnasium was a popular gathering place for both residents and visitors. People played croquet on the lawn […]

  • Looking Back Over the Years

    The End of an Era for Norfolk Now By Colleen Gundlach After 10 years and over 30 issues, Ruth Melville has put on her Norfolk Now editor’s hat for the last time. In June, the paper marked the end of an era with the publication of Ruth’s final issue as one of the executive editors […]

Articles

Winter Mead Publishes His First Book

Investing in the Future of Technology Text By Colleen GundlachPhoto By Savage Frieze Growing up in Norfolk, Winter Mead was an outdoors person with an interest in running, biking and skiing. Today he teaches entrepreneurs how to build valuable businesses from the ground up. His new book, “How to Raise a Venture Capital Fund: The […]

Community Association Anticipates a Season of Replanting

By Mattie Vandiver The snow and ice have melted, and like everyone else in town, the Community Association (CA) is planning for the warmer weather to come. First off for the CA is its annual cleanup day, held on the Saturday following Earth Day. Last year, because of Covid, there was a cleanup month instead, […]

Cold Nights and Warmer Days Herald a New Maple Syrup Season

Text by Jude MeadPhoto by Danesha Mead Maple syrup season is here again. This year will be a little different, with Covid-19 guidelines that still need to be followed. In years past, visitors were welcomed to the sugar houses. This year there will be more safety measures in place and visitors discouraged from coming. But […]

Experiencing the Many Stories of Village Life in Rwanda

Serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer Text and Photos by Kerong Kelly I received my Peace Corps assignment in the spring of 2018. The application, interviews and security clearances had dragged on for months, but now here it was: I would be a Peace Corps volunteer in Rwanda focusing on child and maternal health. I […]

Norfolk Farmers Market to Return this Summer

Text by Doug McDevittPhoto by Bruce Frisch Imagine a summer morning, leaves on the trees gently rustling as a warm, soft breeze brushes your face and the heat of the sun spreads across your shoulders. The sounds of lively banter and laughter reach your ears, and music lifts your spirit as you find yourself humming […]

Learning in the Time of Covid

Botelle staff and students have successfully readjusted to in-person classes Text by Virginia Coleman-PriscoPhoto by Chris Snyder Covid-19 isn’t the first pandemic to have an impact on public education in the United States. In the 20th century, Spanish flu, tuberculosis and polio outbreaks caused public schools to shift instructional methods to either “open air” or […]

Phishing and Vishing and SMishing, Oh My!

NIB warns against online scams by Kelly Kandra Hughes Catie Dougan chuckles as she tells the story of when someone tried to scam her by email phishing. “A couple of years ago, I received an email from someone by the name of Tom McGowan. He asked me to send money via wire out of state […]

Norfolk Citizens Form Group to Study Climate Change

Organization encourages local participation by Michael Cobb Growing awareness of the impact of climate change led to the formation in autumn 2020 of the Norfolk Climate Coalition (NCC), a local grassroots organization studying how a changing climate affects our town and surrounding region. Concerned residents are sharing ideas and activities such as online presentations, renewable energy […]

GMF Sees Opportunities in Global Conservation Organization

Carbon sequestration research a priority by Mattie Vandiver Great Mountain Forest (GMF) recently became a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). IUCN is the world’s largest, and oldest, environmental organization, a global authority on the natural and environmental world. It has more than 1,400 member organizations from over 170 countries, […]

Land Trust Boot Camp Prepares Board Members to Serve

Training and teamwork in the northwest hills by David Beers Prior to the 1990’s, the word webinar was not in common use and neither were webinars themselves.  Since the onset of the Covid pandemic, though, it is quite common to spend several hours a day in Zoom meetings. While the option of webinars existed before […]

City Meadow Park Development Cleared to Move Ahead

Linking City Meadow with a renovated Robertson Plaza by David Beers The next phase of construction to complete the City Meadow Park in downtown Norfolk was approved by the Planning and Zoning Committee (P&Z) at its Jan. 12 meeting. With approval already in hand from the Inland Wetlands Agency earlier in the month, the town’s […]

2020 Was Not Normal, and Neither Was the Weather

By Russell Russ Normal was not the norm for anything in 2020, and it definitely was not the norm for the weather.  There were arguably four main weather themes that highlighted the year. The first was the lack of snowfall during the January through March winter months. After just three months into the year, Norfolk […]