• 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

CT DEEP to Purchase 420-Acre Vagliano Forest in Norfolk

Creates unsegmented corridor to Blackberry River   By William Gridley The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is in the final stages of a transaction with the Vagliano family to acquire 420 acres of Norfolk forestland, tapping funds from the federal Highlands Conservation Act. The property, which includes the cold-water stream Roaring Brook, […]

Getting Outdoors is Good for Your Brain

Scientific evidence that living in Norfolk is good for health and happiness   by Kathy Robb The summer solstice on June 21 means that summer is officially here, and with it the pleasure of being outdoors in the beautiful weather Norfolk offers. Humans know intuitively that being outside makes them feel good. This intuition has […]

National Iron Bank Holds Grand Reopening

  By Ruth Melville As part of a strategic plan to renovate all their branches, the National Iron Bank in Norfolk has spent the past six months refurbishing its building on Station Place. With the internal demolition and reconstruction mostly completed, attention has now shifted to exterior work, and the grand reopening is scheduled for […]

Firearms, Monoculars and Norfolk History

Antique arms and vintage posters on display at Icebox Armory   By Karen Linden Jack, a cute and friendly canine, is the first greeter you’ll meet at Ice Box Armory. Next is Hal Cannon, who has opened his cozy, well-provisioned arms shop right on Route 44 near the west end of Norfolk. Cannon was employed […]

Norfolk Artists & Friends Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Ten Guest Artists Invited to Take Part   By Ruth Melville Every year on the first weekend in August, the Norfolk Artists & Friends (NAF) holds an art exhibition in the Battell Stoeckel Gallery (known as the Art Barn). This year is the group’s 10th anniversary exhibition, and to celebrate, the members have decided to […]

Growing Shiitakes for Fun and Profit

  By Wiley Wood If you’ve come to the Norfolk Farmers Market looking for goat milk soap, French pastries, or zucchini blossoms, Andy Griffin’s stand is not for you. What he has is mushrooms, mostly shiitakes, which he sells by the pint or the half pint. Early on a Saturday morning, he might have a […]

Pooch Palace Offers Luxury Services in New High-Tech Resort for Pets

A place for furry, winged or scaly princes and princesses   By C. J. Sosna When your lovebug needs some pampering or has to be left behind while you take an all-important trip, you now have a solution in one nearby “palace.” Charlene Martel has been in the pet industry for eight years and has […]

New Photographs by Marie Kendall Discovered

An Unexpected Look in Norfolk’s Past   By Jude Mead It was a typical afternoon at the Norfolk Historical Museum. Executive director Barry Webber was busy adding the final touches for the museum’s 2018 exhibition, An Extraordinary Legacy: The Photography of Marie H. Kendall, featuring Kendall’s images of Norfolk during the mid-1880’s through the turn […]

Art, Nature and Fun at Weekend in Norfolk

By Colleen Gundlach This will be the third year of the annual phenomenon known as Weekend in Norfolk (WIN), and a look at this year’s schedule of events reveals several new and exciting activities planned, one of which involves star gazing, moon watching and an all-nighter when local astronomer Matthew Johnson conducts Astronomy Night at […]

Pickleball Is a Serious Sport, Really

Norfolk Curling Club Offers a Chance to Learn or Spectate   By David Beers In 1965, Congressman Joel Pritchard and a friend went outside to play badminton on the badminton court in his Bainbridge, Wash. Backyard. They could not find the badminton equipment and improvised with ping pong rackets and a wiffle ball, and pickleball […]

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival Starts an Event-Filled Six-Week Run

  By Wiley Wood They start arriving on July 1, young musicians, most of them in graduate programs in the United States, but originally from four continents, coming to Norfolk to learn, rehearse and perform (or compose) chamber music with members of the faculty of the Yale School of Music and a distinguished cast of […]

NCCC Opens New Building to Public

  By Clinton Sosna On May 5, Northwestern Connecticut Community College welcomed the public to an open house at the new Joyner Health Science Center, a two-story, 24,000 square foot facility, housing the school’s Veterinary Technology and Allied Health programs. The first floor, which includes a surgical suite, hematology lab, x-ray area and kennels as […]