• 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 […]

  • A Look Into Norfolk’s Past

    Exhibit Explores Pupin’s Haven of Happiness on Westside Road By Patricia Platt The Norfolk Historical Museum graces Norfolk’s village green with the reserve and understated elegance of a New Englander well worth getting to know. Visitors who step inside will find exhibits that tell the stories of the town’s past, often with intriguing ties to […]

  • Norfolk Past and Present

    The Summer Chapel Eases Gracefully Into Its 130 Years By Elizabeth Bailey Ayreslea Rowland Denny began attending services at The Church of the Transfiguration in Norfolk in 1939 on the eve of World War II. A New Yorker, she was a student at the Chapin School in New York City, but her family had been […]

  • Church Steeple Shines Once Again

    Local dignitaries and friends of Norfolk’s Church of Christ Congregational gathered on Saturday, May 25, to formally celebrate the completion of the steeple restoration project. The Rev. Erick Olsen thanked the community for supporting the years-long effort and welcomed everyone to enjoy a splendid cake featuring an image of the steeple.

  • Making the Native… Personal

    Cheryl Heller Builds a Wild Garden in Norfolk By Joe Kelly Gardens are best when they’re personal, argued the late Fred McGourty, who remains Norfolk’s best- known plantsmen. McGourty’s 1989 book, “The Perennial Gardener,” recounts the gardens he and his wife, Mary Ann, created at Hillside, their home near Dennis Hill State Park. Were he […]

  • This Old Norfolk House

    Stevens House By Joe KellyWhen our Puritan forebears arrived on these shores in the early 1600s, they were no doubt surprised todiscover how the traditional thatched roof cottages they knew from back home were no match for thewind and cold of a typical New England winter. But it would have likely surprised them even more […]

  • Can wildlife safely cross Norfolk’s Roads?

    By Shelley Harms Where are animals crossing Norfolk’s roads? Are they making it across? Is it possible to make theircrossings safer? Julia Rogers, Senior Land Protection Manager at the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), helped agroup of interested Norfolk residents explore these questions at a training session sponsored by theNorfolk Land Trust on March 22 at […]

  • Great Mountain Forest’s New Executive Director Returns to His Connecticut Roots

    By David Beers Mike Zarfos started his new position as executive director of Great Mountain Forest (GMF) at the end ofFebruary. It has been a lively time for Zarfos and his family; in addition to moving from Washington,D.C., to Connecticut, they are expecting a baby in April. Zarfos grew up in Deep River, Conn., where […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    In the late 19th century, the arrival of every train at the depot on Station Place was widely anticipated.There were freight trains, milk trains and passenger trains unloading throngs of summer visitors. Theattractive station pictured here was built in 1898, replacing an earlier modest structure. Constructed ofnative granite, it was designed by Hill & Turner, […]

Articles

Purifying Norfolk’s Wastewater

Process described on Sewer District’s Facebook page By Doug McDevitt Too many cups of coffee on a long road trip home, we rush out of the car, fumble with the keys doing a strange wiggle dance and just make it to the lavatory. With our business finished, the commode flushed and hands washed, a great […]

Scout Project Honors Norfolk Veterans

By Wiley Wood On a recent Saturday morning, a group gathered around a headstone lying face down on the sod of the Grantville Cemetery in Norfolk. Some carried clipboards, others flashlights, brushes and putty knives; one carried a bulging ring binder. All were wearing masks. They were part of a task force assembled by John […]

Interview With Matt Riiska

Norfolk First Selectman Matt Riiska talks with Norfolk Now’s Mike Cobb about conducting town business during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. Click here for podcast. (If viewing on landing page, click on headline first.)

Working to Keep Vital Supplies on the Grocery Store Shelves

By Doug McDevitt In October of 1929 a national catastrophe occurred when the stock market crashed putting millions of Americans out of work and causing absolute uncertainty about what was to come. For the next three and a half years, Americans struggled to survive. In 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected the 32nd president of […]

Voices From the Pandemic: How Norfolk Is Responding to the Crisis

Throughout this issue, you’ll find articles about the coronavirus crisis and the ways that people in Norfolk are responding, whether they are working at patients’ bedsides, keeping grocery store shelves stocked, cooking meals to enliven the family’s day, sewing masks to give to their neighbors or keeping their children safe, happy and productive. But first […]

Many Went Bunny Hunting Through Town over Easter Weekend

Norfolk Bunny Hunt By Dave Beers Photos by Dave Beers This past Easter weekend (April 10-12) there was a bunny hunt in Norfolk. Residences and businesses set up Easter holiday displays both inside and outside as part of a town-wide socially-distant scavenger hunt for all ages. Over 60 addresses were listed on both a check-off […]

Norfolk Resident Wins Award for Student Film

By Allysia RuggieroPhoto by Nicole Villalobos Elias Olsen graduated from Ithaca College this past December, with a degree in documentary studies. His course work was largely focused on film. A short film that he and his fellow students produced, called “Stew,” recently won an award at the Outer Docs Film Festival in Ithaca, N.Y. As […]

From Curbside to Virtual Shopping, Local Eateries Get Creative During Covid-19

By Kelly Kandra HughesPhoto by Clinton J. Sosna More than a month has gone by since Gov. Ned Lamont ordered the shutdown of Connecticut restaurants, bars, gyms and movie theaters. Several of the businesses in Norfolk and the surrounding communities that fall into these categories were faced with a seemingly insurmountable task: to keep their […]

Local Stitchers Are Busy Making Face Masks to Combat the Coronavirus

Sewing for Safety By Ruth MelvillePhoto by Avice Meehan Back in March—which feels like a long ago now—it was rare to see a person on the street wearing a face mask. It seemed too extreme, and slightly scary. But as doctors and scientists began to learn more about Covid-19, it became apparent that even people […]

Regional 7 Students and Teachers Adapt to Online Learning

It’s not perfect, but they’re making it work By Charlotte McDevittPhoto by Doug McDevitt To say that now is a difficult time for students would certainly be an understatement. With all the schools in Connecticut closed and without a definitive reopening date, students and teachers are feeling the stress. Thankfully, students at Northwestern Regional 7 […]

Going to School but Staying Home

By Wiley WoodPhoto by Ann DeCerbo When Virginia Coleman-Prisco told her school-age children that spring break was over, one of them piped up, “Does that mean we can go back to school?” The answer, of course, was no, school would still be online. Going to Botelle School these days means sitting down at an internet-connected […]

Opening of Norfolk Farmers Market Postponed

New state and town guidelines will have major impact on how markets can operate By Jude Mead The Norfolk Farmer’s Market will not be opening in May. This is no ordinary farmers market season because of Covid-19. According to Bryan Hurlburt, the commissioner for the Department of Agriculture, farmers markets have always been an important access […]