• 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

Beckley Furnace Stands as a Reminder of Industrial Days in Northwest Corner

Area was rich in iron ore deposits   By Colleen Gundlach Have you ever hiked Canaan Mountain in the East Canaan area and discovered mounds of beautiful, glassy black rocks and wondered where they originated and why there are so many of them? They are slag—a very unappealing name for a truly lovely rock—and their […]

Norfolk’s Fire and Ambulance Volunteers Logged More than 31,000 Hours This Year

Members dedicated to keeping the town safe   By Jonathan Barbagallo As we approach the end of 2018, the emergency services in town have had another busy year, at least by Norfolk standards. House and building fires, jackknifed tractor trailers, mutual aid responses to Brookfield, overdose resuscitations, cardiac arrests, and injured hikers are just some […]

Greenwoods Counseling Referrals, Providing Mental Health Services for Over 25 Years

Health and Welfare in the Town Budget   By Ruth Melville Greenwoods Counseling Referrals, Inc., has been in operation since 1992, working to provide high quality and affordable mental health care to the people of Litchfield County. The organization does exactly what its name suggests. Once a potential client has contacted them for help, Greenwoods […]

Washington’s Trade War and Norfolk’s Economy

  By David Beers On the news there is much talk about trade wars and tariffs, and if you are like me, it all seems far away. But it is not far away, and tariffs are directly affecting livelihoods in Norfolk right now. A bit of background is in order here. A tariff is a […]

Haystack Book Talks

Ten Authors, Two Days, Five Conversations   By Christopher Sinclair As people streamed into Battell Chapel beneath the autumnal glow of the Armstrong stained glass windows, they might easily have imagined themselves in a New Haven lecture hall rather than on the village green in Norfolk. The chapel, which hosted four of the five sessions […]

Whiting Mills: An Old Sock Factory Stuffed With Surprises

  By Sally Quale Inside a former mill building tucked behind the community college in Winsted there is a warren of artists’ spaces, craftsmen’s workshops and miscellaneous businesses. This is Whiting Mills. On any given day, a ceramicist might be glazing her pots for the kiln, a painter scrubbing his canvases, a weaver laying out […]

A Quick Preview of the Midterm Election

The midterm elections on Nov. 6 will see the election of a new governor in Connecticut, as Dannell P. Malloy leaves after eight years in office. Also in contention are Christopher Murphy’s United States Senate seat and the Fifth Congressional District seat currently held by Elizabeth Esty, who has chosen to step down in the […]

Squirrels: They Are Everywhere

  By Jude Mead On a good day it seems like there’s an overpopulation of squirrels this year, but the professionals disagree. According to Michael Gregonis, a wildlife biologist at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the number of squirrels racing about in our backyards is actually lower than last year. “There has […]

At Budget Meeting, Parents Debate Botelle’s Future Direction

  By Wiley Wood The tone was confrontational. “I really don’t care about that,” said Heather Adams, a parent. The superintendent was saying that each student at Botelle Elementary School gets a computer tablet. “The amount the school spends on technology,” said Adams, “is a concern for me.” The meeting was intended to give parents […]

Shrinking Our Water Footprint on ‘The Blue Marble’

How Norfolk measures up   By Kathy Robb We connect with water, and our lives depend on it. The quality and availability of unpolluted drinking water has topped our environmental concerns in polls for a quarter of a century. In 2017, Americans expressed more concern about water pollution than they had since 2001. Low-income and […]

A New Priest Joins St. Martin of Tours Parish

Norfolk parish welcomes Father M. David Dawson   By Colleen Gundlach After serving the Norfolk community for the past five years, Father Ian Highet celebrated his final Mass at St. Martin of Tours Parish on Sunday, September 9. During his last homily at the Norfolk church, Fr. Highet thanked the parishioners for their love and […]

Instrumental Education Hits the Right Note at Northwestern Regional

Program attracts budding musicians   By Charlotte McDevitt Music is very significant part of a child’s education, but music education is often one of the first academic areas cut during budget negotiations. Botelle School was recently forced to eliminate their stringed instrument program, but band class at the school is still ongoing. A very encouraging […]