• 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

Without a Car in Norfolk? Call a Chauffeur!

By David Beers On a sunny Saturday morning, two friends and I met at the Berkshire Country Store to make a trip to Winsted. I pulled out my phone and used my Uber app to call up a ride. (I also have a Lyft app, but Lyft does not have a presence yet in northwest […]

Board of Finance Struggles to Keep Spending Down

Increases outnumber cuts   By Wiley Wood On Monday, April 24, the Board of Finance held its annual budget hearing and presented a provisional budget for the next fiscal year. Despite a general effort to keep costs down, spending will go up slightly in the coming year and the mill rate will increase from 22.09 […]

City Meadow Finally Ready for Its Makeover

Construction to start in late June   By Wiley Wood The City Meadow project cleared its final regulatory hurdle at a public hearing on April 25 when the Planning and Zoning Commission approved an application for an earth excavation permit, as required by town statutes for projects of more than 250 cubic yards. The construction […]

Our Native Wildlife Needs Native Plants

  By Shelley Harms Ah, spring in Norfolk! Frog choruses, birdsong, green leaves and . . . burgeoning invasive plants. It’s time to pull up the garlic mustard and chop out those invasive shrubs like honeysuckle, barberry and burning bush. Alien invasive plants are spreading all over town—they are probably growing in your own backyard. […]

No Car? Try Hopping the Bus!

  By David Beers For whatever reason, you find yourself without access to a car in Norfolk. Should you stay home until you have access to a car again? Should you beg friends and family to borrow their car, or at least to give you a ride? This is a disconcerting prospect in a small […]

Norfolk’s Newest Foundation Begins Work on ‘Norfolk Hub’

Pedestrian access, arts events and coordination between nonprofits are group’s focus   By Wiley Wood For a new kid on the block, the Norfolk Foundation (NF) has an outsized presence in town. Incorporated as a nonprofit in fall 2015, it now owns two key pieces of commercial real estate in the village center: 6 Station […]

Historical Society’s Summer Exhibit

“Norfolk in the Great War” opens May 27   On April 6, 1917, the United States entered the Great War, and life in Norfolk changed quickly. The Eldridge Gymnasium (now Town Hall) became an armory and the setting for outdoor drills with a rifle range set up on the rocky ledge behind Fox Hill, home […]

William Eggers Loves to Make Stuff

  By Ruth Melville When Bill Eggers was 10 years old, he took the motor out of the family lawnmower and put it into a little wooden car he had built himself. A policeman brought him home and complained to his mother that he had been going 50 miles an hour on the highway. She […]

Botelle Students Perform ‘Charlotte’s Web’

By Lauren Valentino The curtain rose for Botelle School’s performance of “Charlotte’s Web” on Thursday, April 6 and the audience—young, old and in-between—was entertained by this long-time favorite story of an unlikely friendship between a young pig and a wise spider. Directed by Bruce Connelly and Elizabeth Allyn as part of the Norfolk After School […]

The Nuts, Bolts and Tools to Start Your Own Business

The Entrepreneurial Center of Northwest Connecticut offers training and support By Colleen Gundlach With increasing technology and internet access, more and more people are leaving traditional jobs to pursue the dream of owning their own businesses. Going solo into a new business can be a difficult, time-consuming and expensive endeavor, but a new program at […]

The Murky Origin of Norfolk Street Names

  By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo For one of the largest towns in the state (geographically), there are relatively few roads in Norfolk, and the ingenuity in their naming is generally at a minimum. Many street names denote their ultimate destination—Bald Mountain, Goshen East, Litchfield, Meekertown, North Colebrook, South Sandisfield, State Line and Winchester, for example, […]

Getting a Second WIN

It’s early days yet, but town organizations are starting to plan their events for the second Weekend in Norfolk, scheduled this year for August 4, 5 and 6. At a meeting on March 11 in Town Hall, a few organizations sent representatives, while many others wrote in suggestions. All participating groups are urged to submit […]