• 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

Trouble Comes Disguised as a Beautiful Ornamental!

  By John Anderson As mid fall approaches, the leaves of many plants senesce and change color. White ash trees are some of the first woody plants to drop their leaves, followed by the glorious colors of maples, birches, blueberries and spicebush. But amongst them are invaders, which can outnumber and choke out the natural […]

Innovation in the Service of Convenience

Store allows night-time access to key card holders   By Christopher Sinclair It is difficult to envision a 7-Eleven, Cumberland Farms, or other 24-hour store popping up in Norfolk’s downtown center. One senses that large, flashing neon signs and the designs of Alfredo Taylor would make for rather peculiar neighbors. That being the case, Ryan […]

Give Your Pet’s Toilette a Boost

By Susannah Wood Rover getting a bit whiffy? Tired of your aching back as you wrestle him in the bathtub? Pet Valu at the Winsted Stop and Shop plaza has the answer for you. For $10 plus tax you can take your pet to their do-it-yourself dog wash stations and soap up your Labradoodle, Bergamasco […]

Winsted Paper Folds, Merges With Lakeville Journal

News coverage for Norfolk to continue uninterrupted   By Colleen Gundlach Before Lloyd Garrison and Rosanna Trestman breathed life into Norfolk Now 14 years ago, local news was circulated by out-of-town papers such as the Register-Citizen (formerly Winsted Evening Citizen) and The Lakeville Journal.  The Register-Citizen has long since forgone any in-depth coverage of Norfolk, […]

Botelle School Starts New Year With Pride and Enthusiasm

Prioritizes citizenship as a foundation for academic excellence   By Amy Vorenberg Sixth graders at Botelle School were quick to share their insights into their school community: —It’s a place to feel welcome. —When you walk through the door, you’ll learn new things. —It’s a place where you know you’re safe; a place to be […]

Department of Transportation Proposes New Road Safety Measures

Citizens action group formed to slow traffic through Norfolk   By Wiley Wood Norfolk is a town cut in two by an arterial road. If you walk from the village green to the Norfolk Library or to Station Place—as many residents and Yale Music School students do—you take your life in your hands crossing Route […]

Faces at the Farmers Market

Woven Stars Farm, Food With a Conscience   By Wiley Wood On a typical day, Emerson Martin and Lizzie Galeucia bring pasture-raised eggs, raw honey, oyster mushrooms and heirloom tomatoes to the farmers market in Norfolk. In the fall they will add frozen cuts of lamb and goat. Diversity is part of their plan, and […]

Without a Car in Norfolk? 

Dial-A-Ride is Curb to Curb and Available to Everyone   By David Beers On Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m., a little bus picked me up at my house to take me wherever I wanted to go, whether shopping, dining, medical appointments or any other appointments in northwest Connecticut. The round trip cost was $2.50, regardless […]

Norfolk’s Much-Decorated Fire Engine 90 is Retiring

NVFD to bid farewell to state champion pumper truck   By Sally Quale Engine 90, Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department’s (NVFD) award-winning, 30-year-old pumper truck, is scheduled to be retired and replaced this fall. It has served well as a highly versatile pumper, whose smaller size and four-wheel drive enables it to reach fires at the […]

A Bearded Dragon, a Python and Their Friends Come to Norfolk

The Ted Byers Conservation Lecture Featured Wildlife Rehabilitator   By Jude Mead A rare box turtle, a four-foot long python snake, a colorful painted turtle and a bearded dragon lizard were spotted at Doolittle Lake last month. But not to worry because these reptiles were featured at the annual Ted Byers Conservation Lecture held on […]

Historical Gravestones Offer Hints About Past Lives

Tales from the Old “Buryal Yard”   By Ryan Bachman Walking through an old graveyard can be like stepping back in time. The strange designs and archaic language carved on historic gravestones can tell little known and unusual facts about the history of a community and its residents. Two hundred and sixty years ago this […]

Norfolk NET: A Conversation With the Rev. Erick Olsen

By Kelly Kandra Hughes Norfolk NET (Networking Everyone Together) is a collaborative, grassroots effort to alleviate poverty and strengthen community relationships in Norfolk. One of the lead collaborators, the Rev. Erick Olsen, pastor of the Church of Christ Congregational (UCC), recently agreed to share with Norfolk Now his thoughts on this initiative and his hopes […]