• Norfolk Crowds Return to New Farmers Market

    By Andra Moss The crowd was large, loud and loving it at July’s Northwest Farm to Fork farmers market, held under the pavilion at Norbrook Farm Brewery. “We were very pleased with the turnout, with approximately 230 customers coming through and 16 food and farm vendors,” says Lisa Auclair, a co-founder, with Devin Grosso and […]

  • Friday Night on the Green Celebrates America’s 250th

    July 3 was a picture-perfect night for the community-wide event cel-ebrating America’s Independence. Following a quick parade, picnickers enjoyed burgers and ice cream while judges dug into the entries in the pie baking contest. First Selectman Hen-ry Tirrell moved seamlessly from his welcome speech to the dunk tank, and a few folks, like Pete Sanders […]

  • NORFOLK REMEMBERS Laurene Mary Wallace

    Laurene Mary Wallace, 77, of Colebrook passed peacefully at home surrounded by her family on Friday, July 10, 2026. Laurene was born on April 28, 1949, in Bridgeport, the last of four children born to the late Lawrence and Irene (Misencik) Firmender of Stratford. A retired registered nurse, Laurene’s career in nursing and cardiac rehabilitation […]

  • Norfolk Remembers Sally Sterling Ellis Quale

    Sally Sterling Ellis Quale, of Norfolk and St. Petersburg, Fla., formerly of Bronxville, N.Y., died unexpectedly of heart failure on July 7 at the age of 87. Sally will be remembered for her deep commitment to her family and communities and for her warmth, kindness, intelligence, creativity … and, of course, for her beautiful smile […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This charming house, still standing on the west side of Litchfield Rd., was built in 1905 for Richmond Paine, the newly appointed conductor of the Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU). Carl and Ellen Battell Stoeckel engaged the architect Ehrick Rossiter to design the house for Paine as well as the Music Shed for performances by […]

  • Norfolk’s Newest Neighborhood Puts Down Roots

    Haystack Woods lauded as a “model for the state” By Joe Kelly Norfolk’s newest neighborhood, the Haystack Woods affordable housing development, has officially come to life. A year ago, the 39-acre location—a former gravel pit off Old Colony Road—was little more than a muddy building site. Now construction of the 10, two- and three-bedroom homes […]

  • Winsted Church Auctions Tiffany Window for $1.25 Million

    Sale highlights women’s role in Tiffany designs By Joe Kelly When medieval architects found ways to build taller cathedrals, the techniques they developed also made possible the enormous stained-glass windows that we so enjoy today, such as at Chartres and Sainte-Chapelle in France and Canterbury Cathedral in England. American-made stained glass is more recent, dating […]

  • A Revolutionary Year

    1776 Norfolk explored in summer exhibition By Andra Moss Communities across the country are looking back with wonder at 1776, the year that 13 British colonies initiated a revolution that, against astonishing odds, led to the birth of an independent republic. In Norfolk, two curators have combed the Norfolk Historical Society’s (NHS) collection for colonial-era […]

  • SUMMER MUSIC: Familiar Quartets, New Composers at Yale Chamber Festival

    By Patricia Platt The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, running from July 3 until Aug. 22, will present an exciting season of classical, innovative and international music. This summer, the Brentano Quartet, Shanghai Quartet, Ying Quartet and the Horszowski Trio are among those who will perform during weekend concerts and serve as artist-in-residence mentors to the […]

  • Botelle Students Move Up

    By Avice Meehan Four sixth graders bid farewell to Botelle Elementary School at a laughter-filled, but occasionally serious, ceremony on June 16 that was attended by family, friends and town officials. First Selectmen Henry Tirrell, a Botelle graduate whose mother and aunt taught at the school for many years, reminded the students that they would […]

  • Norfolk Rail-Trail Project Pedals Forward

    By Jude Mead After more than a decade of planning, permiting and redesign work, Norfolk’s long-await-ed Rails-to-Trails initiative has reached a major milestone, bringing the community closer to the creation of a new multi-use recreational trail along a historic railroad corridor. The project is the North Brook Trail, a planned three-quarter-mile ADA-accessi-ble pathway that will […]

  • LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Budgets, Beetles, Nips and More

    By Avice Meehan State Rep. Maria Horn came prepared to share details about the Connecticut budget (she is co-chair of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee) and the progress that has been made toward paying down the state’s unfunded pension liability, increasing the rainy day fund (now up to $18 billion) and allocating more state funds […]

Articles

Squirrels: They Are Everywhere

  By Jude Mead On a good day it seems like there’s an overpopulation of squirrels this year, but the professionals disagree. According to Michael Gregonis, a wildlife biologist at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the number of squirrels racing about in our backyards is actually lower than last year. “There has […]

At Budget Meeting, Parents Debate Botelle’s Future Direction

  By Wiley Wood The tone was confrontational. “I really don’t care about that,” said Heather Adams, a parent. The superintendent was saying that each student at Botelle Elementary School gets a computer tablet. “The amount the school spends on technology,” said Adams, “is a concern for me.” The meeting was intended to give parents […]

Shrinking Our Water Footprint on ‘The Blue Marble’

How Norfolk measures up   By Kathy Robb We connect with water, and our lives depend on it. The quality and availability of unpolluted drinking water has topped our environmental concerns in polls for a quarter of a century. In 2017, Americans expressed more concern about water pollution than they had since 2001. Low-income and […]

A New Priest Joins St. Martin of Tours Parish

Norfolk parish welcomes Father M. David Dawson   By Colleen Gundlach After serving the Norfolk community for the past five years, Father Ian Highet celebrated his final Mass at St. Martin of Tours Parish on Sunday, September 9. During his last homily at the Norfolk church, Fr. Highet thanked the parishioners for their love and […]

Instrumental Education Hits the Right Note at Northwestern Regional

Program attracts budding musicians   By Charlotte McDevitt Music is very significant part of a child’s education, but music education is often one of the first academic areas cut during budget negotiations. Botelle School was recently forced to eliminate their stringed instrument program, but band class at the school is still ongoing. A very encouraging […]

New Teachers Bring Renewed Energy and Broad Experience to Botelle School

  By Ann DeCerbo Three new faces greeted Botelle’s elementary school students this year—fourth grade teacher Nichole Pitruzello, music teacher Sandra Kleisner, and school nurse Donna Pequignot. These women bring a wide range of experiences and perspectives to the school. A recent UConn graduate, Nichole Pitruzello is a bubbly, enthusiastic new teacher certified in elementary […]

Is a Maker Lab in Norfolk’s Future?

Local group explores the possibility on a field trip to New Haven   By Karen Rossi In New Haven there is a special scent to the air in early fall. It’s born from the rustling leaves of the tree-lined streets, the cool nights and hot days mixed with a bit of salt air rolling in […]

Norfolk’s Club Activities: The Shooting Sports

  By David Beers If you head past the Norfolk landfill toward Winsted on Route 44, you may have noticed a few red buildings, a gated gravel road and some archery targets in the woods across from the Rock Pile Driving Range. What you are seeing as you whiz by is just the tip of […]

The Paperback Revolution That Started in Norfolk

How Modern Age Books changed the way Americans read   By Lucy Mookerjee Modern Age Books, Inc., founded by Norfolk’s Richard S. Childs in 1936, was the first large-scale publisher to produce paperback books in the United States. Modern Age released progressive paperbacks that were inexpensive and accessible to the general public. On display at the […]

Restaurant Roundup: New and Ethnic Eateries

The Norfolk area offers a wide array of choices   By Ruth Melville Although I love the many advantages of living in such a beautiful place as Norfolk, one thing I miss about city life is the wide choice of foreign cuisines on offer. So I was delighted to discover that there are several new […]

Catching the Annual Fall Migration of Hawks

  By Jude Mead Witnessing firsthand the sight of hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of hawks flying overhead during their fall migration to South America is an extraordinary experience. Those that have seen this spectacle say it is the event of a lifetime, and Ayrslea Denny can attest to that. Denny has been […]

For Those With Eyes As Big As Moons, Botelle Adds A Rainbow

Artist and children together make a winning combination   By Clinton J. Sosna Botelle School’s littlest academic achievers were often denied the pleasures of artistic appreciation while navigating the halls of the school, simply because the display cases holding the artistic works of the school’s students were set too high for even the most excellently […]