• 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 […]

  • 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, […]

Articles

Norfolk’s November and December Weather and a Yearly Summary for 2016

A Snowy End to a Very Warm and Dry Year   By Russell Russ After tracking a growing precipitation deficit and above average temperatures for the entire year, it was quite the twist in weather fate to have an early winter with snowy conditions before Thanksgiving. The closing months of 2016 were still a little […]

Year-End Real Estate Roundup

A look at the 2016 Norfolk real estate market   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the Norfolk real estate market in 2016 is the wide array of listings. For the first time since the 1990’s, there is literally something for everyone. The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) currently includes 44 Norfolk […]

Berkshire Mountain Springs—From the Fountainhead to Your Door

By Michael Kelly The most direct way to access Berkshire County’s wealth of cultural amenities is to drive north on route 272, a felicitous, forested, rural byway. Just 4.5 miles from Norfolk’s village green, near the cutoff to Campbell Falls, you cross into Massachusetts and subconsciously absorb subtle, topographical changes. Two miles further up the […]

Organizers of Farmers Market Announce Possible Shutdown This Summer

As old guard prepares to retire, no one steps up to replace them   By Wiley Wood Three key players in the Norfolk Farmers Market organization announced in an interview that they are considering the possibility of closing down the market after this winter’s season for lack of manpower to keep it running. “We would […]

Fighting Back the Tide: Connecticut Takes On the Opioid Epidemic

  By Susannah Wood The frightening rise in overdose deaths from opioids and rates of opioid addiction has been the subject of many news stories in the last few years. All of New England, including Connecticut, has been very hard hit. In 2015 there were about 700 deaths in the state due to accidental overdoses, […]

Hans Carlson Heads North

Ex-GMF director to take over Blue Hill Heritage Trust in Maine   By Ruth Melville Hans Carlson may be leaving Great Mountain Forest, but he is not leaving the New England woods. After four years at GMF, Carlson has resigned from his position as director there and is moving to Maine to become the executive […]

Land Trust Clears 18 Acres in Barbour Woods

Many wildlife species need young forest habitat By Wiley Wood Photographs by Bruce Frisch The silence in Barbour Woods has been broken in recent weeks by the sound of heavy machinery. Its broad public paths and mature forest of mixed hardwoods have made Barbour Woods a favorite of birders, dog walkers and Sunday strollers. But […]

Connecticut Faces Severe Drought

Groundwater reserves in Norfolk appear ample   By Janet G. Mead On Nov. 15, after two years of scant rainfall and snow, one of the hottest summers on record and a warm fall, the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) reported that almost half of Connecticut (44.5 percent), including the Northwest Corner, is in a condition of […]

Berkshire Country Store Plans Late December Opening

The Berkshire Country Store is scheduled to open at 6 Station Place in late December, according to a press release by Norfolk’s Economic Development Commission (EDC). The work of converting the generic retail space into a functioning food service and grocery store has been assisted, under the direction of store owner Ryan Craig, by many […]

Burnt to the Ground, Now Stronger Than Ever

Five years after the fire, the Norfolk Curling Club is thriving   By Leila Javitch Back in December 2011, two teenagers on a drug-fueled rampage burned the Norfolk Curling Club to the ground. Now, five years later, it can boast of a remarkable recovery. The club’s situation was drastic after the fire in 2011. The […]

Simplified Form of CPR Now Widely Recommended

Norfolk Ambulance will teach the skill at Dec. 3 Farmers Market   By Wiley Wood If someone near you suffers cardiac arrest, the best response is still to call 911 and start CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, according to Christopher Little, chief of Norfolk Lions Club Ambulance. But the American Heart Association now recommends a simplified […]

Norfolk Voters Turned Out in High Numbers for Clinton

Republicans Witkos and Ohler won crossover vote in local contests   By Wiley Wood Voter turnout in Norfolk was high, with 86 percent of the town’s electorate casting a ballot in the election. The presidential vote went to Clinton (547 to 373), but in two local races, a majority of Norfolk residents voted for the […]