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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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.
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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Focus on New Firehouse shifts to funding
Costs likely to rise beyond initial $5 million estimate By Joe Kelly After months of sometimes contentious public hearings, plans for a new Norfolk firehouse are nearing the end of the wetlands/zoning part of the approval process and heading into a decisive new phase: finding the money to pay for it all. The Planning & […]
Articles
Old-Time General Store Opens in Salisbury
White Hart Provisions By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo “Would you like a homemade soda?” is a question I have been asked zero times in my life, but that offering, and other nostalgic touches, is what welcomed me to White Hart Provisions in Salisbury last week. Stepping into the new general store and café at the […]
Artifact of Another Era Found During Renovation of Library
Excavation uncovers forgotten gas tank By Michael Kelly Norfolk Library patrons, inconvenienced by excavation of the parking lot to make way for a new, more accessible handicapped entrance, will have to scramble for parking space a bit longer than expected. After a successful, aesthetically pleasing restoration of the terra-cotta tile roof to its former […]
Town Approves Convenience Store Plan
Stannard to withdraw suit By Wiley Wood On Monday, August 29, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a plan for the proposed convenience store and deli at 6 Station Place, following a public hearing at which many town residents spoke urging approval. The store’s operator, Ryan Craig, and the building’s owner, the Norfolk Foundation, […]
The All-Volunteer Norfolk Lions Club Ambulance Service Is Always On Call
Help Whenever You Need It By Ruth Melville The Lions Club is an international secular service organization founded in 1917. Their motto is “We Serve,” and it would be hard to find a better description of the Norfolk Lions Club. The Norfolk Lions Club is an invaluable organization that provides help to the […]
Norfolk Filmmaker’s “Bob and the Trees” Leads Off Series of Independent Films at the Norfolk Library
By Ruth Melville “Bob and the Trees” is a film about a middle-aged logger in a rural town in western Massachusetts who struggles to make a living over the course of a harsh winter. Although fictional, the movie has the quiet attention to ordinary life of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. This fall, the film’s director, […]
Valentino Takes the Reins
Botelle School has a new principal By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo Lauren Valentino started her new job as principal of Botelle School on July 1. She was unanimously selected for the position by a search committee made up of Board of Education members, parents and teachers. Valentino is the fourth principal at Botelle in the […]
Fourth Annual Norfolk Car Show at New Venue
Yale in Norfolk opens their grounds to raise funds for Emergency Services By Colleen Gundlach Vintage cars will line the austere campus of Yale in Norfolk and the sounds of music, laughter and fun will ring out as the Fourth Annual Norfolk Classic Community Car Show moves its venue to the Music Shed parking […]
Frequent Sightings of Bears This Summer Alarm and Intrigue Norfolk Residents
By Jude Mead I am sitting at my deck on a quiet sunny afternoon. The birds are chirping. The breeze is light and warm. I am sipping fresh homemade lemonade. Suddenly, from around the corner of my house appears a large black bear that begins to climb the stairs toward my front door […]
Discover Norfolk Treasures “Hidden in Plain Sight” at the Historical Society
Exhibit Highlights Golden Age By Leila Javitch “Hidden in Plain Sight” is the name of the current exhibition at the Norfolk Historical Society. That title also describes this treasure of a show. Everyone with any interest in Norfolk should see it before it closes in mid-October. The exhibition focuses on the artists, artisans and […]
Students at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Get Their Start in the GMF Woods
Summer Camp With a Purpose By David Beers For three weeks every summer, the Yale Summer School of Art and Music is not the only university program in town. Few are aware that every August about 160 Yale forestry students are also in Norfolk, learning while tromping through Great Mountain Forest (GMF). These students […]
Stannard Sues Town Over Convenience Store
New public hearing to be held on August 29 at 6:30 p.m. By Wiley Wood The town was served a summons on August 8 in a suit brought by Joseph Stannard against the Norfolk Planning and Zoning Commission. The suit appealed the commission’s recent approval of a site plan application for converting the building at […]
