• Norfolk’s Newest Neighborhood Puts Down Roots

    Haystack Woods lauded as a “model for the state” By Joe Kelly Norfolk’s newest neighborhood, the Haystack Woods affordable housing development, has officially come to life. A year ago, the 39-acre location—a former gravel pit off Old Colony Road—was little more than a muddy building site. Now construction of the 10, two- and three-bedroom homes […]

  • Winsted Church Auctions Tiffany Window for $1.25 Million

    Sale highlights women’s role in Tiffany designs By Joe Kelly When medieval architects found ways to build taller cathedrals, the techniques they developed also made possible the enormous stained-glass windows that we so enjoy today, such as at Chartres and Sainte-Chapelle in France and Canterbury Cathedral in England. American-made stained glass is more recent, dating […]

  • A Revolutionary Year

    1776 Norfolk explored in summer exhibition By Andra Moss Communities across the country are looking back with wonder at 1776, the year that 13 British colonies initiated a revolution that, against astonishing odds, led to the birth of an independent republic. In Norfolk, two curators have combed the Norfolk Historical Society’s (NHS) collection for colonial-era […]

  • SUMMER MUSIC: Familiar Quartets, New Composers at Yale Chamber Festival

    By Patricia Platt The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, running from July 3 until Aug. 22, will present an exciting season of classical, innovative and international music. This summer, the Brentano Quartet, Shanghai Quartet, Ying Quartet and the Horszowski Trio are among those who will perform during weekend concerts and serve as artist-in-residence mentors to the […]

  • Botelle Students Move Up

    By Avice Meehan Four sixth graders bid farewell to Botelle Elementary School at a laughter-filled, but occasionally serious, ceremony on June 16 that was attended by family, friends and town officials. First Selectmen Henry Tirrell, a Botelle graduate whose mother and aunt taught at the school for many years, reminded the students that they would […]

  • Norfolk Rail-Trail Project Pedals Forward

    By Jude Mead After more than a decade of planning, permiting and redesign work, Norfolk’s long-await-ed Rails-to-Trails initiative has reached a major milestone, bringing the community closer to the creation of a new multi-use recreational trail along a historic railroad corridor. The project is the North Brook Trail, a planned three-quarter-mile ADA-accessi-ble pathway that will […]

  • LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Budgets, Beetles, Nips and More

    By Avice Meehan State Rep. Maria Horn came prepared to share details about the Connecticut budget (she is co-chair of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee) and the progress that has been made toward paying down the state’s unfunded pension liability, increasing the rainy day fund (now up to $18 billion) and allocating more state funds […]

  • Noteworthy Natives: Coral Honeysuckle

    By Jill Chase Do you go to other people’s gardens and envy all the hummingbirds they have? I did. But then I realized I had completely overlooked one of their favorite plants: The native coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens. It was practically designed for humming-birds. Their long beaks and extra-long tongues are a perfect fit for […]

  • CELESTIAL SPHERE: Honoring an Astronomer and Patriot

    By Matthew Johnson As America celebrates its semi-quincentennial and the 250th year since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this writer also celebrates the life of David Rittenhouse, an astronomer and political thinker who helped build the nation’s scientific infrastructure and informed its founding documents. The customary astronomical notes will follow at the end […]

  • Norfolk Then

    As we prepare for the 250th anniversary of our country’s independence on July 4, let’s look back 50 years to June 12, 1976, and the American Revolution Bicentennial parade in Norfolk. The parade was the largest parade ever held in Norfolk with almost everyone participating, many dressed in colonial garb. The Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department […]

  • GoodWorks Shares Plans for Infinity Hall

    Restaurant, more concerts coming to historic venue By Avice Meehan When Dave Rosenfeld walked onto the starlit stage at Infinity Hall, many of the more than 200 people gathered to hear what he had to say, were unsure about what to expect. The co-founder of GoodWorks Entertainment, which acquired the green Victorian gem of a […]

  • A New Tradition Begins for Litchfield County Choral Union

    Generations come together to refresh a century-long legacy By Jude Mead Music from singers young and old filled Battell Chapel on May 22 as the Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) joined the Torrington High School choir for a collaborative concert aimed at connecting generations of choral musicians. Organizers hope the successful event will become an […]

Articles

Caught Between Two Worlds: A Neighbor Shares His Immigrant Story

By Kelly Kandra Hughes  The Norfolk Library will celebrate National Immigrants Day a little early this year when they welcome Birol Bahadir, Norfolk resident and German immigrant, to the library on Monday, Oct. 24 at 5:30 p.m. Bahadir, who recently published his autobiography, “Between 2 Worlds,” will speak about his dream of living in the […]

Exploring the Northwest Corner’s Live Music Scene 

Out and About By Michael Cobb With the end of summer, Yale’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival goes dormant until next season. Fortunately for fans of live music, there are plenty of other options—from folk to rock—scattered throughout the northwest corner.  In downtown Norfolk, Infinity Hall seems to be picking up programming, although the exact relationship […]

Iron Strong for 175 Years

Text By Andra MossPhoto By Jen Pfaltz The 1840’s in the United States was the decade of the telegraph, the Mexican War and the Gold Rush. America’s rail network began its rapid expansion westwards as technology and investment took off. In 1847, Thomas Alva Edison was born; so was Jesse James. The United States was […]

Norfolk Hub Talk Focuses on Drone Use at the Front Lines of War

By Andra Moss Dozens gathered in the Norfolk Hub, with many more watching via Zoom, on Saturday, Sept. 24 to hear from Ian Miller and Evan Platt of the non-profit organization Zero Line on their view of the war in Ukraine and how Zero Line is supporting the Ukrainian citizens in their battle against the […]

GoodWorks to Turn Infinity Hall Building Over to Town of Norfolk

One more act in the life of the historic theater By Ruth Melville “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” sang Bob Dylan, and if you lived in Norfolk you didn’t need a crystal ball to know that change was coming to Infinity Hall. A glance at the venue’s diminishing […]

Campaign to Slow Speed of Traffic Through Town is Long and Frustrating

Keeping the Roads Safe By Colleen Gundlach The first letter to the editor about slowing down traffic traveling through Norfolk was published in Norfolk Now back in 2017. The writer, Barry Webber, encouraged townspeople to make a concerted effort to travel the speed limit when driving around town. He wrote, “If each of us pledges […]

Local Conservation Groups Work to Protect Connecticut’s Bat Population

Friends Not Foes Text By Avice MeehanPhoto By Pamela Velez Don’t be surprised if you see a strange-looking vehicle with an antenna on its roof crawling along Goshen East Street late at night. It’s a scientific bat mobile, deployed by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to assess Connecticut’s bat population. Moving […]

The Connecticut-Asian Cultural Center Opens on Westside Road

Celebrating Art and Culture Text by Patricia PlattPhoto Courtesy of The CT-Asian Cultural Center Celebrating its motto “Love, Mutual Support and Peace,” the Connecticut-Asia Cultural Center held its grand opening on Aug. 6 at 207A Westside Road, the large stone estate built by Dr. Michael Pupin in 1907. For many years, the site was occupied […]

Norfolk NET Program Encourages Acts of Kindness in the Community

Paying It Forward Text By Kelly Kandra HughesPhoto by Henry Perrault Norfolk has a new Little Free Library! Located on Winchester Road, the wooden box filled with books sits on a pole with a sign that encourages passersby to “Take a Book, Leave a Book.” Under this directive is one more sentence: “Made possible by […]

A Bounty of Cultivated and Wild Mushrooms Can Be Found at Husky Meadows Farm

Mushrooms on the Menu By David Beers The old Curtiss dairy farm was quiet for many years. Then in 2015 an organic vegetable farm took root, called Husky Meadows Farm. Over the past seven years, the farm has diversified more each year. It is remarkable to see all that is going on. The farm now […]

Station Place Café to Close After 12 Years in Business

Station Place Café, based in the historic former Norfolk station of the Central New England Railway,will close its doors at the end of September, says owner Stefanie Gouey. She cites Covid-19, rising food costs and decreasing walk-in business as factors in her decision to close the well-reviewed eatery. Gouey first started serving fresh breakfast and […]

Revamped Town Website Launched

By Susan MacEachron As of July 1, the town website has been redesigned and is under town management for the first time. Before now, the website had been managed by various members of the community for the benefit of the town. Now the Website Committee is a town committee, and notices of monthly meetings will […]