• 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

Haystack Possible Site of Viking Burial Mound

What is believed to be an ancient Norse coin was discovered March 17 on the slopes of Haystack Mountain, reigniting longstanding debate about whether the Vikings ever reached Norfolk. Dr. Dagmar Holblad, of Malmo, Sweden, was examining the site of a charcoal pit in Haystack State Park when he uncovered the coin. A specialist in […]

Taconic Learning Center Spring Courses Taught by Expert Teachers

The Taconic Learning Center (TLC) is a non-profit membership organization providing the opportunity for lifelong learning to area residents. TLC’s courses cover a wide variety of academic subjects, taught by volunteers who are all experts in their fields, with courses such as The Civil War in Fiction and Creation of the Modern Middle East, just […]

Book and Exhibition to Showcase Work of Norfolk Photographers

By Ruth Melville Residents of Norfolk are well aware, thanks to the Norfolk Artists & Friends annual exhibition and shows at the Norfolk Library, Infinity Bistro and Aija, that their town is home to many excellent photographers. A new book featuring the work of 10 local photographers will be published later this year, and this […]

It’s Only Natural

The Legacy of Glacial Lake Norfolk By Hans M. Carlson A couple of months ago I wrote about the low water in Tobey Pond, and how it revealed interesting aspects of the pond’s human history. Today I’m thinking about high water at the pond, and that’s an entirely different story, one which unfolded even before […]

Passport to Connecticut Libraries Program Begins April 1

Your library card opens the world to you through books, audio books, music CDs and DVDs. Now let your library card open the doors of Connecticut libraries by participating in the Passport to Connecticut Libraries Program! To celebrate National Library Week during April, the Connecticut Library Association’s Passport to Connecticut Libraries Program invites you to […]

Religious Compound on West Side Road Changes Hands

Loss of tax-exempt status to be appealed By Wiley Wood The Hutterian Brethren used to be seen along West Side Road, the women in head scarves and long skirts, the children in straw hats, taking their Sunday walk or going to look for berries in the neighboring woods. Then, in the fall of 1999, the Hutterites sold […]

Botelle Seeks a New Principal for Next Year

O’Connell oversaw upgrades to school’s security By Wiley Wood Matthew O’Connell, who became principal of Norfolk’s Botelle School in the summer of 2014, formally presented his letter of resignation to the Board of Education on March 9, and the board accepted it. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Beth Iacobelli, speaking in a recent interview, praised […]

Senator Witkos Hosts Coffee Hour at Haystack Pizza

Criticizes state budget and defends closure of UConn Torrington By Wiley Wood At 10 a.m. on a recent Saturday morning, cars were parked along Route 44 west of town and filled the lot at Haystack Pizza. Inside the restaurant, getting coffee from the counter and helping themselves to doughnuts and Danish pastries, were about two […]

Museum of American Tort Law in Winsted Educates and Entertains

Grand Spring Reopening Planned for April 2 By Ruth Melville Say “tort law” to most people, and their eyes glaze over with boredom, but a new museum in Winsted is determined to change your mind. Far from being a dusty or arcane subject, tort law—which concerns the right of the average citizen to sue for […]

Through The Garden Gate

April, Sacred Geometry By Leslie Watkins As we start thinking of the beautiful new gardens we will create this year, we wonder where will they be located, what size will they be, and what shape? What will they look like? What will they mean? The ancient walled gardens of Persia were designed to be experienced […]

What Lurks Behind Your Bathroom Mirror?

And more importantly, how can you get rid of it? By Susannah Wood Open up the medicine cabinet and there they are: ibuprofen, out-of-date prescriptions for eczema or high blood pressure, opiods left over from your broken ankle, the birth control pills you don’t need because you want to start a family. How do you […]

Case of the (Alleged) Flower Plower

Local men appear before The People’s Court   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo The People’s Court was made famous—as the highlight of Raymond Babbitt’s day—in the 1988 hit movie, “Rain Man.” While Judge Joseph Wapner is long retired, the show is still going strong in its fourth decade of production, and recently aired a case involving Norfolk […]