• Proposed Manor House Expansion Draws Large Crowd

    Many differing views on effect of change in town center By Susan MacEachron Norfolk residents filled the Botelle School Hall of Flags on a very cold evening on Tuesday, Jan. 14, to attend the Planning & Zoning (P&Z) public hearing regarding a modification to the special permit granted in 1996 to the property known as […]

  • From All Angels

    Throughout the month of February, Garet&Co will be returning to Norfolk to present their third annual performance in the Battell Chapel, where each piece will be set in the round.  In this presentation, titled “From All Angles”, the audience will witness the translation of three of the works presented at their fall show.   “Can’t Keep […]

  • Norfolk Then

    Pictured here is the house built in 1898 by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Spofford as their summer home. The son of Ainsworth Spofford, Librarian of Congress, Charles Spofford was an electrical engineer, who would be hired in 1902 to manage London’s underground railway system, converting it from steam to electricity. The Spoffords engaged the architect […]

  • 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 […]

Articles

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 […]

From Loon Meadow Farm to Barn and Breakfast

Beth and Steve Podhajecki look toward new business in New York state By Kit O’Brien As Spring, 2016 comes to a start, Beth and Steve Podhajecki’s business of horse-drawn carriage services in Norfolk comes to an end. Loon Meadow Farm itself is not at an end, though, as Beth and Steve Podhajecki will be moving […]

People’s Court: The 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 resident […]

Fire Department Adds a New Truck to Its Fleet

By Ruth Melville   In January 2015, the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) presented the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance with a request for $125,000 to buy a new utility truck. The Board of Finance denied the full request, but it did give the NVFD $20,000, and the department chipped in $26,000 […]

Tireless Library Volunteers Work to Document Everyone’s History

Norfolk’s Past and Present in Scrapbooks   By Colleen Gundlach In the nondescript cabinets to the right of the fireplace in the Great Hall of Norfolk Library is tucked one of Norfolk’s unsung treasures. Here reside volumes that trace the folk history of the town, carefully cut, pasted and archived by dedicated volunteers. From birth […]

Isabella Players Showcase Native American History

  It was a cold afternoon, and the roads were snowy, but a good-sized crowd was on hand in Battell Chapel to watch this year’s Isabella Eldridge Club play, written and directed by Jude Mead. On stage were four disparate women, all descendants of great Native American chiefs. Three are great-great-granddaughters—crisply tailored Hahanna (Louise Davis), […]

It’s Only Natural—March 2016

Art, Science and Nature in a Rite of Spring   By Hans M. Carlson Last Sunday’s minus 19 degrees was a record, and I love that kind of cold, so I took a walk in the woods as soon as the sun rose. I came out at the east gate of Great Mountain Forest, and […]