• Norfolk Crowds Return to New Farmers Market

    By Andra Moss The crowd was large, loud and loving it at July’s Northwest Farm to Fork farmers market, held under the pavilion at Norbrook Farm Brewery. “We were very pleased with the turnout, with approximately 230 customers coming through and 16 food and farm vendors,” says Lisa Auclair, a co-founder, with Devin Grosso and […]

  • Friday Night on the Green Celebrates America’s 250th

    July 3 was a picture-perfect night for the community-wide event cel-ebrating America’s Independence. Following a quick parade, picnickers enjoyed burgers and ice cream while judges dug into the entries in the pie baking contest. First Selectman Hen-ry Tirrell moved seamlessly from his welcome speech to the dunk tank, and a few folks, like Pete Sanders […]

  • NORFOLK REMEMBERS Laurene Mary Wallace

    Laurene Mary Wallace, 77, of Colebrook passed peacefully at home surrounded by her family on Friday, July 10, 2026. Laurene was born on April 28, 1949, in Bridgeport, the last of four children born to the late Lawrence and Irene (Misencik) Firmender of Stratford. A retired registered nurse, Laurene’s career in nursing and cardiac rehabilitation […]

  • Norfolk Remembers Sally Sterling Ellis Quale

    Sally Sterling Ellis Quale, of Norfolk and St. Petersburg, Fla., formerly of Bronxville, N.Y., died unexpectedly of heart failure on July 7 at the age of 87. Sally will be remembered for her deep commitment to her family and communities and for her warmth, kindness, intelligence, creativity … and, of course, for her beautiful smile […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This charming house, still standing on the west side of Litchfield Rd., was built in 1905 for Richmond Paine, the newly appointed conductor of the Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU). Carl and Ellen Battell Stoeckel engaged the architect Ehrick Rossiter to design the house for Paine as well as the Music Shed for performances by […]

  • 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 […]

Articles

Norfolk Library Reopens Its Doors with Precautions

Providing opportunities for education, entertainment and reading Text by Mattie VandiverPhoto by Christopher Little On June 29, the Norfolk Library was able to open up to the public once again after being closed because of Covid-19 for three months. The library began by offering curbside service. It is now fully open, with slightly limited hours, […]

Keeping the Trick-or-Treating on Halloween in Norfolk

Covid changes the experience but not the fun by Kelly Kandra Hughes Last year on Halloween, Cecily Mermann, who lives on Emerson Street, sat on her front porch with her dog, Dodger, and greeted the multitude of trick-or-treaters making their way through the village of Norfolk. She enjoyed seeing the costumes, giving out handfuls of […]

Children’s Foundation Gives Botelle Students Chromebooks

New computers help with the transition to virtual learning Text by Ann DeCerboPhoto by Jonathan Barbagallo It would be an understatement to say that things were different for the 2019/20 sixth grade class at Botelle School than for previous graduating classes. Concerns over Covid-19 precipitated the start of remote learning in March 2020 and the […]

Connecting to the Internet in Norfolk

A proponent of broadband answers our questions By Dave Beers Norfolk resident Kim Maxwell is president of the board of directors of Northwest ConneCT, a regional nonprofit formed to bring fast fiber-optic Internet to a 25-town region that extends from Salisbury to Hartland to Burlington to New Fairfield. Northwest ConneCT is leading the effort to […]

Tropical Storm Isaias Tests Norfolk’s Resilience

Local emergency crews worked overtime in Eversource’s absence by Colleen GundlachPhotographs by Jonathan Barbagallo It was a storm to remember, and one that brought out the very best of the people of Norfolk. In the midst of incredible frustration, there was a spirit among the townspeople of working together to get through the inconvenient and […]

Teen Plans New Lifeguard Shed for Tobey Pond

By Wiley WoodPhoto of Ethan Perlman, top, by Savage Frieze Public beach adapts to Covid Ethan Perlman is in his second year as a lifeguard at the town’s public beach, so when he started looking for a project to earn his Eagle Scout ranking from Boy Scout Troop 19 in New Hartford, he quickly settled […]

The Gilson Movie Palace Reopens with Safety Protocols and Classic Films

By Clinton SosnaPhoto by Clinton Sosna “I’m a survivor. That’s what I do.” That’s what Alen Nero, the owner of the Gilson Cafe and Cinema in Winsted, tells customers and fans. Amid the uncertainty of these times, the Gilson reopened in mid-August with a weekend screening of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The dinner theater carefully […]

Familiar and Ever So Slightly Askew

by Stephen MelvillePhotos by Savage Frieze In a pandemic summer that has greatly reduced the customary prominence of art and music in Norfolk, one bright spot briefly emerged this past month when Betsy Gill hosted a show of sculpture and installation by artist Sophie Eisner, daughter of longtime Berkshire residents Gil Eisner and Kate Wenner. […]

Shop Fresh, Shop Local

Farm stands replace farmers markets this summer Text by Ruth MelvillePhoto by Savage Freize While it was disappointing that Norfolk Farmers Market decided that it couldn’t safely open this summer, local farmers kept growing vegetables, raising cows and milking goats. You can still get vegetables, meats, and herbs and flowers from many of the market […]

Back to Schools

A tour of Norfolk’s one-room schoolhouses By Andra Moss It’s September and that means that school, whatever form it takes, is back in session.  In the 19th and early 20th centuries, most American students attended a one-room schoolhouse within walking distance of their homes. In 1919 there were 190,000 one-room schools scattered throughout the American […]

Looking Back at the Primaries and Ahead to the General Election

by Susannah Wood In Norfolk, 261 ballots were submitted for the Aug. 11 primary. Of those, 138 were absentee. Five absentee ballots had to be rejected because the voters failed to sign the inner envelope. Democratic turnout was 46 percent, with 126 people voting absentee and 84 showing up in person. Former Vice-President Biden received […]

Great Mountain Forest Joins Regional and International Groups

by Mattie Vandiver When Tamara Muruetagoiena came to Great Mountain Forest last October as its executive director, there was an expectation that the organization might see some changes. The forest is a large tract of woodlands straddling the Norfolk and Falls Village line. Muruetagoiena, with master’s degrees in business administration and forestry sciences, has held […]