• 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

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 […]

One Year in, Multiage Classrooms at Botelle Judged a Success

Program will expand next year   By Jude Mead Botelle Elementary School implemented its first multiage classroom this past year, combining the kindergarten and first grade classes. Faced with the prospect of declining enrollment, Principal Lauren Valentino, along with teachers Bea Tirrell and Deb Tallon, revitalized an educational model that dates back centuries to the […]

Husky Meadows Farm: Fresh Produce and Prepared Foods

  By Colleen Gundlach When Steve Archaski was young, he spent many happy hours at the home of his great-aunt and great-uncle on Doolittle Drive. Little did he know that he would eventually own the property and, beyond that, he would be the head baker/chef at nearby Husky Meadows Farm. Many Norfolkians know Husky Meadows […]

Ovenbird: Summer Songster

  By Susannah Wood   There is a singer everyone has heard, Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird, Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again. —Robert Frost   Even if you are not a birder but find yourself anywhere near the Norfolk woods come late April or early May and on into summer, […]

Norfolk Early Learning Center Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary

Learn, Love, Grow   By Ruth Melville On May 5, Kailyn Nadeau and Paige Corey celebrated their fifth year as directors of the Norfolk Early Education Center (NELC), their state-licensed child-care facility for children from as young as six weeks up to 12 years old. For over 10 years, Nadeau and Corey had worked at […]

The Hub, Designed as a Collaborative Center, Holds First Event

Transformed space is open to all   By Chris Sinclair The many stone walls running through the New England landscape may well reflect the entrenched belief that, as Robert Frost put it, “Good fences make good neighbors.” But this New England town has opted for a somewhat different approach in the form of the Norfolk […]

Best in Show: Norfolk

By Janet G. Mead “So you think your dog’s got talent?” was the hook Ellie Crone, 15, and Kendra Link, 14, came up with to lure donors to their benefit for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, held Saturday, May 26, at Botelle School—and it worked! More than 60 people and 20 dogs were in […]