• 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’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 […]