• 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

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 […]