• 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 […]

  • 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 […]

Articles

Norfolk Lions Club Ambulance Demonstrates a Typical Callout

What to Do in an Emergency By Ruth Melville Most Norfolk residents know that if they need emergency medical help, they can rely on the Norfolk Lions Club Ambulance (NLCA.) This all-volunteer service is available all day, every day, and there is never a bill to pay. But what can you do to help the […]

Shop Local: Holiday Pop-Up Opens in Arcanum

By Andra Moss “It is,” says Bella Erder, “a bit like going full circle.”  Erder is referring to her return to a retail space in the Royal Arcanum Building, where she has opened a holiday pop-up version of her shop, Aija (pronounced Asia). “My first retail presence in Norfolk was a store and art gallery […]

Norfolk Salutes Its Volunteers

Ron Zanobi Back in July 1969, I joined the U.S. Navy as a Petty Officer 3rd Class and served at several bases in the United States, the Island of San Salvador and in Viet Nam.  Oddly enough, on the day I left for boot camp; my father’s parting words were, “Don’t volunteer. If they want […]

The Spell is Broken in 2023

State and Church Absolve 12 People Accused of Witchcraft in Colonial Era By Patricia Platt It has been over 370 years since Connecticut conducted the first witch trials in New England, but their shadow still reaches into 2023. Between 1647 and 1663, at least 34 people were accused of witchcraft in the Connecticut and New […]

Celebrating All- Encouraging Creativity

Botelle School’s Community Quilt Brings School and Town Together By Ruth Melville Botelle School has chosen “Celebrating All and Creating Community” as its theme for this academic year. Each month the school plans to organize a special project, involving both the school and the town, to honor this theme. Principal Lauren Valentino says the goal […]

Helping the Enviorment

Two Town Buildings Install Heat Pumps to Reduce Oil Consumption By Bina Thomson Norfolk has worked hard to establish itself as a champion of the environment, and two key town non-profits are continuing that work. The Norfolk Library and the Church of Christ on the green have installed heat pumps as a way to reduce […]

NorfolkNET’s Focus Expanding

Group is looking for more ways to support the community By Bina Thomson Of the many monthly meetings held at the Norfolk Hub, perhaps some of the most needed are the meetings for NorfolkNET (Networking Everyone Together). NorfolkNET is a grassroots organization with the goal of alleviating poverty and strengthening community relationships. NET was born […]

Food Pantry Reports Surge In Visits as Grocery Prices Remain High

Goal remains dignified client experience By Elizabeth Bailey Food price inflation has slowed from this time last year, down from an annual rate of 8.5 percent to 4.3 percent, but families continue to experience the shock waves. “We have undoubtedly seen a drastic increase in the number of people utilizing the food pantry, including many […]

View From the Green

A Look To the North By David Beers Many Norfolkians reading this are probably Connecticut-centric in their geographic thinking. This means we tend to favor and gravitate to in-state locations for work and play. Traveling south, east and west along the well-worn routes to Winsted, Torrington, Salisbury, Goshen and North Canaan is much more common […]

The Gas Spill One Year Later

Pollution, lawsuits and complaints remain By Joe Kelly  It’s been a full year since a tanker truck crashed on Route 44, spilling thousands of gallons of gasoline into the middle of Norfolk. While the initial cleanup is largely complete, residents in the direct path of the spill are still wrestling with the consequences. Several have […]

Puppets Take Norfolk Village Green

By Andra Moss The magic was swirling as the Greenwoods Puppet Festival returned to Norfolk Library on Oct. 13-14 with local and international puppet artists, live music and the Big Puppet Parade, led by Mark Alexander’s 10-foot-tall “Flock of Doves.” Sponsored by the Norfolk Library and the Battell Arts Foundation, festival events featured hand-crafted marionettes […]

From the Bookshelf

Joan Crawford’s Lifetime of Reinvention Explored in New Book by Robert Dance By Leila Javitch Longtime Norfolk resident Robert Dance has written a new book which, even before its publication release, has sold out its first printing. “Ferocious Ambition: Joan Crawford’s March to Stardom” provides not only a biography of the professional life of the […]