• Inside the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art

    A season of student and community activity By Patricia Platt For over 80 years, the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Trust has endowed Yale University’s summer music and art programs in Norfolk. The renowned Yale Norfolk School of Art opens the 2026 summer season on May 23, before the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival begins, and shares its […]

  • Trio Revives Local Farmers Market

    Northwest Farm to Fork launches at Norbrook By Andra Moss When Devin Grosso and her husband moved to Norfolk in 2024, she was disappointed to learn that the town’s farmers market had permanently closed just the year before. However, a chance meeting at the Botelle School garden with Lisa Auclair, who had managed the Norfolk […]

  • Tracing the Dudley Legacy

    Family history and the truth behind Dudleytown By Jude Mead The Dudley name, with roots stretching back to 14th-century England, carries with it a long and often dramatic history. For Susan Dudley of Winchester, that legacy has been a lifelong source of curiosity—particularly her family’s connection to Dudleytown, the long-abandoned settlement hidden within Cornwall’s Dark […]

  • Cultivars, Nativars and Natives: The Lowdown

    by Susannah Wood It’s May and gardening is in full swing. At nurseries and on gardening sites, beginners and enthusiasts often encounter plants labelled “cultivar” or “nativar,” as well as “native.” What is the difference between a cultivar and a nativar? If someone wants to support local ecosystems and biological diversity, are nativars a good […]

  • Noteworthy Natives: Arrowwood Viburnum

    By Jill Chase For some, a mass of viburnums in bloom on the woodlands edge rivals the beauty of any formal garden around. The fresh white flowers on green foliage let you know that the spring garden season is well and truly on. There are several good varieties of viburnum—some produce blooms like snowballs, while […]

  • A Town Hall Treat for Pollinators

    The Norfolk Nature Alliance sponsored a student native plant garden project at Town Hall. The Northwestern Regional 7 Agricultural Education Program/FFA arrived on a sunny Sunday to install the donated native shrubs and perennials.

  • Birds Now

    A view on the prose and poetry of spring By Cheryl Heller As I write, the red-winged blackbirds are partying outside my window. Goldfinches, in their bright almost-summer feathers, make yellow polkadots in the dogwood that will flower any day. The phoebe (or her daughter) who has nested on our hanging porch light for the […]

  • Happiness Is …

    Smiles and squeals greeted “Farmer John” Coston as he surprised the Merrymakers group of kindergarten and first-graders with a lamb visit at the Norfolk Library’s after-school program on March 23. Cuties and lambs—need we say more?

  • Greenwoods Puppet Festival Returns to Norfolk Library

    By Bina ThomsonThe Greenwoods Puppet Festival returns to Norfolk for a third exciting showcase of puppet magic. Children’s Librarian and Event Coordinator Eileen Fitzgibbons, who has coordinated the previous two festivals, is busy fine-tuning this year’s offerings. In addition to a full day of performances, a puppetry workshop for adults will also be offered. Festivities […]

  • Botelle Beat

    Power Goals and WIN Time Personalize Learning at Botelle By Lauren Valentino One of Botelle School’s SOAR expectations is to Achieve Your Goals. We believe that when students know their goals—what they are learning, why and what success looks like—they are more engaged and motivated. They are partners in the learning process and own their […]

  • Courtney Maum’s Comedic Take on Capitalism

    On June 2nd, Norfolk author Courtney Maum launches her new novel, “ALAN OPTS OUT” (Little Brown) at the Norfolk Library in conversation with WAMC radio’s Sarah LaDuke. The book is a comedy about an ad exec who bombs the biggest pitch of his career and decides to move into a backyard playhouse, opt out of […]

  • “You Shall Not Pass!”

    Gandalf and the state Department of Transportation have spoken. Mountain Road at Westside Road is now closed through November for the Spaulding Brook bridge replacement project. Traffic is being detoured off Route 44 via Westside Road. Cars can still reach the ball fields along the short stretch of Mountain Road.

Articles

Restoration Takes Yale Art Barn from Stable to Star

Renovation seamlessly integrates the new with the historic Text by Andra MossPhotos by Rob Benson Photography The Art Barn on the Battell Stoeckel Estate in Norfolk has emerged from a year-long renovation with its original features intact, stunning architectural elements uncovered, and new design features added to create a modern, flexible space where art and […]

Norfolk Foundation Purchases Royal Arcanum Building

No major changes planned for this town landmark Text By Ruth MelvillePhoto Courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society On Nov. 1, the Norfolk Foundation (NF) announced its purchase of the Royal Arcanum building on Station Place. The William and Mary Greve Foundation of New York, under its president, Tony Kiser, gave the foundation the money […]

History of the Royal Arcanum Building

by Jude Mead In 1902 the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department and the council of the Royal Arcanum decided to work together to build a structure that could house both institutions. The NVFD needed somewhere fireproof in the center of town to keep their equipment. The members of the Royal Arcanum needed a place for their […]

The Capt. George Palmer House, c. 1755

This Old Norfolk House by Michael Cummings Kelly Approaching Norfolk from the west, just past the Blackberry River Inn (1763), the discerning motorist perceives on a gentle rise to the left an apparition sheathed in white. Spectral in appearance, the 1755 Capt. George Palmer House preens demurely, laying claim in its regal simplicity to being […]

Recap of November 2021 Elections

By Andra MossPhoto by Kelly Kandra Hughes The results of Norfolk’s 2021 municipal elections were officially released by Town Clerk Linda Perkins on Thursday, Nov. 4. Although local turnout for the election was not high, with 469 votes cast out of an electorate of 1,162, Norfolk’s voting rate of 44 percent still topped many Connecticut […]

Norfolk NET Wants to Give You $100 to Enrich the Town

New grant program will support projects that grow community by Kelly Kandra Hughes In Jan. 2020, Reverend Erick Olsen of the Church of Christ Congregational pitched an idea at a Norfolk NET (Networking Everyone Together) meeting:  a community contest with the goals of building new relationships, invigorating the town and, hopefully, encouraging more people to […]

Tenuta Market: Telling the Stories of Italian Foods

By Patricia Platt Two years ago, Ian Edwards studied Italian cooking at the renowned Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in rural Sicily. His love of Italian food led Edwards and his friend Travis Powell on meandering trips across Italy to explore the farms and estates where fine Italian ingredients are produced. Today, Edwards and Powell […]

Norfolk Library Awarded $15,000 in ARPA Funds

Buying hotspots, laptops, and iPads for patron use By Kelly Kandra Hughes Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, the Norfolk Library is now the recipient of over $15,000 in grant money. ARPA is the $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package designed to facilitate the United States’ recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Libraries […]

Infinity Hall Is Building Back With a New Menu and Improved Sound

By Michael Cobb After more than a year of being shut down, Infinity Hall reopened its doors to the public last summer. But managing lost revenue and surviving with the help of governmental assistance were only part of the equation. Infinity Hall had plenty of behind-the-scenes work to do in preparation for reopening, including maintenance […]

Eileen Fielding of the Sharon Audubon Society: A Lifetime of Watching Birds

It’s Only Natural Text By Jude MeadPhoto by Michael Moschen If anyone knows about birds, it is Eileen Fielding. She started volunteering at an Audubon sanctuary in Massachusetts when she was 13. Today, with a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Connecticut, she’s the center director for the Sharon Audubon Center.  […]

Winsted’s Railway Café Serves Up Mouthwatering Breakfast and Lunch Dishes

By Colleen Gundlach The Covid pandemic inflicted devastation on many business owners, particularly those of small businesses. From the lockdown last year to unemployment issues this year, these companies have been hard hit. One local entrepreneur is an exception, though. Winsted resident Carrie Stetson took the Covid lemons and turned them into lemonade. Stetson had […]

The Library’s Kelly Kandra Hughes is Keeping Norfolk Engaged

Community in Action Text by Janet Gokay MeaPhoto by Heath Hughes Mention Kelly Kandra Hughes, the Norfolk Library’s community engagement coordinator, to most of the library’s patrons and the first response usually is, “Oh, she’s done so much for this town!” And indeed, both she and her husband, Heath, who works as the office manager […]