• 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

State Renews City Meadow Grant

Completion expected by December 2017   By Wiley Wood Plans for a park in the sunken wetland below Station Place were dropped with a thud last April when time ran out to complete the project before the funding deadline. But on October 4, First Selectman Sue Dyer announced that the entire original grant of $500,000 from […]

Advice for Voters From the Norfolk Town Clerk

By Wiley Wood   In this lively election season, no one is likely to forget that Election Day falls on November 8, the second Tuesday of November. The Norfolk polling station, on the second floor of Town Hall at 19 Maple Avenue, will be open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. “Be sure you’re registered,” […]

New Head Chef at Infinity Bistro

By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo If Infinity Bistro has fallen out of your lineup for weekend dining options, it’s time to bring it back. The hot, freshly baked bread and garlic butter are good indicators of what flavorsome items are to come. The pulled chicken tacos, one of the best-selling items on the menu, are worth […]

Town Meeting Planned for November 14

Refinancing old debt and taking on a new loan   At the selectmen’s meeting on October 4, First Selectman Sue Dyer announced plans to call a town meeting in November. Resolutions will be presented to refinance the town’s existing debt and to borrow additional money to purchase trucks. The town is carrying somewhat less than […]

Alfredo Taylor’s 1905 Decorative Railing Lamps Again Illuminate Village

  by Michael Kelly Long before Route 44 became the speedway it is for cars and trucks whizzing through the heart of the village, most people entered and departed Norfolk deliberately, by way of the railroad. Passengers sharing comfortable parlor cars could hop on and off at 23 stations as the train meandered along steel […]

Tiffany Sunrise Off for Repairs

Community Foundation Helps With Costs   By Shelley Harms The first phase of Battell Chapel’s stained glass windows project took a surprising turn in early October. Original plans called for the large center altar window, by Maitland Armstrong, to be restored first. David Maitland Armstrong was one of the foremost stained glass artists of the gilded […]

Not Your Mother’s Exercise Class

Norfolk seniors get moving with Robyn Centrella By Joanne Hohmeister Did you know that Norfolk provides a free exercise class for any senior citizen who wants or needs some extra exercise in their lives?  At Meadowbrook Apartments, a certified Senior Fitness Specialist (ACE) , Robyn Centrella, who also teaches in New Hartford, Torrington, Harwinton and […]

Some Trick-or-Treaters Get an Early Start

They tumbled out of the van and drifted across the parking lot of the Meadowbrook Apartments—a shark, a skeleton, several butterflies, a ghost, a dinosaur, a clown, a princess. Leading them in Wonder Woman costume was Kailyn Nadeau, co-director of the Norfolk Early Learning Center. This was the daycare’s annual trick-or-treat outing for three- and […]

Norfolk’s Input Sought on Regional Development Plan

  No regional plan exists for the 21 towns in northwest Connecticut that are served by the Northwest Hills Council of Governments (NHCOG). The council was formed in January 2014 by the consolidation of two earlier regional planning organizations and has now turned for the first time to the task of formulating its Regional Plan […]

At Northwestern Regional High School, the Band’s All Here

  By Ruth Melville In music education circles, the music program at Northwestern Regional High School has long been acknowledged to be one of the finest in the state, if not the region. Three times, in 2000, 2006 and 2015, the Northwestern high school band has been chosen the top ensemble at the Connecticut Music […]

Snapping Turtles Hatch on Public Beach at Tobey Pond

  By Jude Mead On the muggy evening of Saturday, September 10, Tobey Pond was surprisingly quiet. It was the last weekend of the season, yet only a handful of us took advantage of the hot weather to visit the town beach. But instead of cooling in the water or lolling on our beach towels, […]

Coal Oil Tank Behind Library Safely Unearthed

Environmental effects are being monitored   By Michael Kelly During excavation for the Norfolk Library’s new handicapped access ramp, pipes were unearthed that led to a mysterious gas tank buried behind the library’s great room. After much head-scratching and research, it was determined that the tank was part of a then-sophisticated 19th-century technology that, before […]