• Proposed Manor House Expansion Draws Large Crowd

    Many differing views on effect of change in town center By Susan MacEachron Norfolk residents filled the Botelle School Hall of Flags on a very cold evening on Tuesday, Jan. 14, to attend the Planning & Zoning (P&Z) public hearing regarding a modification to the special permit granted in 1996 to the property known as […]

  • From All Angels

    Throughout the month of February, Garet&Co will be returning to Norfolk to present their third annual performance in the Battell Chapel, where each piece will be set in the round.  In this presentation, titled “From All Angles”, the audience will witness the translation of three of the works presented at their fall show.   “Can’t Keep […]

  • Norfolk Then

    Pictured here is the house built in 1898 by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Spofford as their summer home. The son of Ainsworth Spofford, Librarian of Congress, Charles Spofford was an electrical engineer, who would be hired in 1902 to manage London’s underground railway system, converting it from steam to electricity. The Spoffords engaged the architect […]

  • 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 […]

Articles

For Those With Eyes As Big As Moons, Botelle Adds A Rainbow

Artist and children together make a winning combination   By Clinton J. Sosna Botelle School’s littlest academic achievers were often denied the pleasures of artistic appreciation while navigating the halls of the school, simply because the display cases holding the artistic works of the school’s students were set too high for even the most excellently […]

Wide Range of Health Services Available to Norfolk Residents—With or Without Coverage

Flu clinic to be held Oct. 17   By Ruth Melville In addition to the regular items in the town budget—road repair, school funding, the fire department, pensions—the Town of Norfolk also provides funds to outside organizations that provide services to the town. One of these organizations is Foothills Visiting Nurse & Home Care (commonly […]

Sharon Hospital Announces Intention to Close Its Birthing Suites

Local opposition forms “Save Sharon Hospital” group   By Stephen Melville In July of 2017 the state of Connecticut officially approved the sale of Sharon Hospital to Health Quest Systems, returning the hospital to nonprofit status after 15 years as part of the for-profit Essent Healthcare of Connecticut. The purchase was supported by a $3 […]

NHCOG Releases Interactive Regional Northwest Connecticut Trail Map

A New Unified 21-Town Resource   By Billy Gridley As Robert Frost said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” A new mapping resource in the Northwest Corner has the potential to make all the difference. It already provides basic information […]

Magnificent Monarch Butterflies Making a Slow Comeback

  By Jude Mead A memorable part of my childhood was spotting a monarch butterfly in late summer. The monarch is one of nature’s most spectacular species with its large size and recognizable bright orange and black markings. Though once common in most gardens, today the monarch has become a rare sighting. According to Jane […]

Buddy Program at Regional 7 Helps Incoming Students Feel Welcome

  By Charlotte McDevitt Moving can be hard, especially for kids moving to a different school, with new peers and teachers. Last year, Northwestern Regional 7 started a program to make the incoming seventh graders’ transitions a little easier. The program is called WEB, which stands for Where Everybody Belongs. WEB leaders are chosen from […]

Author Caitlin Macy Considers New Novel

Filling the creative well in Norfolk   By Colleen Gundlach When a child becomes a voracious reader early on and knows from her formative years that she wants to be a writer, chances are her drive will enable her to achieve that goal. Such is the case with Norfolk resident Caitlin Macy, author of three […]

Authors Gather in Norfolk for October Book Festival

A weekend of public conversations planned   By Tom Hodgkin Stephen Melville knows when inspiration hit. He was in Wales, attending the Hay Festival, a 10-day arts and literature gathering, when he thought, “Why not? Why not Norfolk?” Like Norfolk, Hay-on-Wye was just a quiet country town until 1988, when the local literary community sponsored […]

Rails to Trails Rolls Onward with North Brook Trail

By Sue Frisch   In just three years, Norfolk’s Rails to Trails committee has gone from being a brand-new group to being custodians of a state-approved rail trail—the North Brook trail—along a state-owned segment of Norfolk’s decommissioned railroad bed, which snakes roughly east-west through town. Now the committee is reapplying for the $187,000 state grant […]

Weekend in Norfolk 2018, in Photos

Drop-In Center in Torrington Provides Services for the Homeless

  By Ruth Melville For the past three and a half years, The Gathering Place in Torrington has offered homeless individuals in Litchfield County a safe place to find help and services. It’s not an overnight shelter, but a daytime drop-in center where people can take a shower, do their laundry, find clothing for job […]

Who Are the Library Associates and What Do They Do?

In Support of the Norfolk Library   By Leila Javitch Many people in town probably don’t know who the Library Associates are, or what role they play at the Norfolk Library. Simply put, the Library Associates is a group of volunteers whose goal is to support the work of the library, primarily by sponsoring free […]