• 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, […]

  • Focus on New Firehouse shifts to funding

    Costs likely to rise beyond initial $5 million estimate By Joe Kelly After months of sometimes contentious public hearings, plans for a new Norfolk firehouse are nearing the end of the wetlands/zoning part of the approval process and heading into a decisive new phase: finding the money to pay for it all. The Planning & […]

Articles

Norfolk Elects Riiska in a Landslide

By Wiley Wood In a municipal election that drew 53 percent of Norfolk’s voters to the polls, Matthew Riiska (D) was elected first selectman over William Reudgen (R) by a commanding lead. At the polling station, where the results were announced shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., Reudgen congratulated Riiska in front of […]

Northwest Connect Hopes to Build Regional Fiber-Optic Network by 2021

Dropped cell phone calls and slow downloads would be distant memories   By Ruth Melville If the efforts of a local advocacy group called Northwest Connect are successful, we may see a fiber-optic network installed in the Northwest Corner by 2021. Northwest Connect was formed by a group of citizens and elected officials, most notably […]

Great Mountain Forest Makes Long-Term Deal to Sell Carbon Credits

Planning for the Future   By Tom Vorenberg Early one morning last month a young man and his girlfriend, visiting Norfolk from a western state, hiked up the logging road from the Great Mountain Forest (GMF) east gate. They wanted to get to the pond known as Old Man Mac to watch the sunrise. It […]

First Selectman Candidates Square Off at Infinity Hall

  By Wiley Wood In a conversation that touched on a familiar range of topics—taxes, education, infrastructure—the two candidates for Norfolk first selectman spoke in front of a crowd off about 85 townspeople on a recent Saturday morning at Infinity Hall. Both candidates are longtime residents of Norfolk, and both have run for first selectman […]

Steeple of Congregational Church Needs Urgent Repair

Congregation will look to community for help in restoration   By Wiley Wood From the vantage of one of the wooded ridgetops around town, there is often no indication of where Norfolk lies other than the spire of the Congregational Church, a white shaft rising out of the trees to mark the village green. But […]

Retirement Party Honors First Selectman Dyer

Counting the achievements of nearly two decades   By Wiley Wood The tables and chairs were pushed back in the dining room at the Wood Creek Bar and Grill on a recent Sunday, and a broad cross-section of Norfolk residents were gathered around a banquet table to honor First Selectman Sue Dyer, who will step […]

Norfolk Food Pantry Is Open to All, All Year Round

  By Chris Sinclair As the cornstalks mysteriously migrate from the now flattened fields into people’s front yards, and eggnog begins appearing on the supermarket shelves in a startling array of novelty flavors, it is important to recall that the harvest cornucopia is not overflowing for everyone. While Norfolk is a beautiful and comfortable home […]

Artisans Guild Flourishing in Revived Downtown

  By Ruth Melville When the Artisans Guild decided to close its doors in January 2008, after 17 years in operation, it was a sad day for craft lovers and gift buyers in Norfolk. But now, almost 10 years later, the Artisans Guild is not just back in business but thriving, under the ownership of […]

Cooperative Grocery Store Coming to Downtown Winsted

Mad River Market hoping to open by the end of 2018   By Colleen Gundlach Winsted used to have a variety of grocery stores from which to choose: the A&P on Main Street and later Willow Street; Liberty Market and Mencuccini’s on Main Street; Nichols Market on Park Place; Bruno’s and Toto’s up by the […]

At closing time, in a little-known part of the forest…

BH Upcycled Designs Gives New Life to Old Clothing

  By Ruth Melville We all know there’s too much waste in the modern world. The days of “make do and mend” are largely gone, and new clothing is available so cheaply that most people prefer to throw an old shirt out and buy a new one. But Norfolk Farmers Market vendor MaryLynne Boisvert takes […]

Zoning and Wetlands Seek Authority to Issue Citations

Town schedules enforcement ordinance for vote   By Wiley Wood Should the Town of Norfolk be allowed to fine its residents for violations of zoning and inland wetlands regulations? This is the question that will be put to vote at a town meeting this month. At present, the enforcement officer can notify a landowner who […]