• 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

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 […]