• 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

Propelling Norfolk into the 21st Century

Charging station for electric cars installed at Town Hall Text and photo by David Beers Last summer, an overnight visitor to town inquired at Town Hall about charging their electric car and found out that the closest chargers were in Winsted and North Canaan. This prompted a conversation in the town’s newly revitalized town Energy […]

Library’s Annual Sale Builds a Community Around Books

By Ruth MelvillePhoto by Savage Frieze On Aug. 24 and 25, the Norfolk Library held its 43rd annual book sale. Thanks to the donation of about 13,000 books, and countless hours of labor by the Library Associates and their friends, approximately $14,000 dollars were raised to support the activities of the library. Equally important, a […]

Tour the Forest, and Learn a Little about Norfolk

By Doug McDevitt Norfolk may not have notable historical events, such as Stratford, say, which saw the first colony in Connecticut, or Danbury, which was the target of a British invasion and where General Israel Putnam’s army endured a harsh winter that became known as Connecticut’s Valley Forge. No, our town in the past was […]

Norfolk Artists and Friends Features Nine Guest Artists

NAF greets second decade with a gala reception By Christopher Sinclair As the Norfolk Artists and Friends (NAF) Annual Exhibition enters its second decade of existence with its eleventh installment, it welcomes the diverse and dynamic talents of nine guest artists working across a broad spectrum of mediums. The Battell Stoeckel Gallery, affectionately known to […]

Treads & Trails Bike Build Event Coming to Botelle

Bringing exercise and the great outdoors to Norfolk students By Kelly Kandra Hughes Thanks to a serendipitous encounter at Norfstroms salvage shed, approximately 40 Botelle Elementary students will receive new bikes this year. Sara Hannafin, Director of Engagement at Can’d Aid, had stopped by the transfer station in June when she noticed Norfstroms on her […]

Greenwoods Puppet Festival Comes to Norfolk

From Inspiration to Reality  By Jude Mead For the first time ever, Norfolk residents and visitors will celebrate the craft and magic of contemporary puppetry with some of the best-known artists in the field when the Greenwoods Puppet Festival comes to town. The festival will run from September 13 through 15.  So how does a […]

Seacocks Opened on Thomson Canoe Works

Schuyler Thomson aims to retire from his craft By Doug McDevitt  The year was 1969. The Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon, 400,000 people descended on the sleepy hamlet of Bethel, New York for Woodstock, and Schuyler Thomson embarked on a journey that would eventually lead him to Norfolk.   1969 was also the year […]

City Meadow Park: Mire to Marsh

Connecting the village center with improved access and amenities By David BeersPhoto by Christopher Little The town’s storm water runoff takes a circuitous route through the soils and vegetation of City Meadow Park, which allows the water to be filtered of sediment and contaminants. In a very similar meandering fashion, the process of creating the […]

Pittsfield Rye, Baking Quality Bread for 90 Years

Faces at the Farmers Market By Ruth MelvillePhoto by Bruce Frisch Every Saturday morning during the outdoor market season, the Pittsfield Rye and Specialty Breads Company pulls its van up in front of Town Hall and starts to unload a cornucopia of freshly baked bread. There is a bread for every bread lover’s taste: seeded, […]

A Provençal Summer Evening With Friends

Notes From a French Kitchen By Marie-Christine Perry The farmers market beckons, full of this summer’s bounty, and conjures Provence, France, where every small village market on the hills offers an abundance of the local favorites – shiny purple eggplants, large juicy tomatoes, pale green and yellow zucchini, and sweet peppers in a variety of shapes […]

Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation

The Norfolk Food Pantry Is Running Low on Supplies According to Lynn Deasy, one of the volunteers who manages the Norfolk Food Pantry, more than 40 million Americans live in households that don’t have the resources to buy good, nutritious food. Even in Norfolk, 20 to 30 percent of the children at Botelle Elementary School […]

Revamp of Norfolk Website Offers Visuals of Town

Subscribers can get weekly email update of town events By Wiley Wood Last month, visitors to the town website saw a video showing a little boy, Calvin, climbing the stairs to the viewing platform on Haystack Mountain with his parents’ encouragement. But when Calvin gets to the top of the stairs, he finds himself staring […]