• 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

Historical Society Weekend Celebrates Today’s Norfolk Collectors

  In conjunction with their exhibition “A Farmer, a Sportsman and a Diplomat: The Romance of Collecting in Norfolk,” the Norfolk Historical Society is sponsoring a weekend in February devoted to today’s collections. On Friday, February12, a cocktail party at the Historical Museum will feature a group of Norfolk collectors who will share their collecting […]

Torrington’s Five Points Gallery: Art Mecca and Tool for City Revitalization

Out and About   By Ruth Melville Five Points Gallery, located in a historic building at the corner of Water and Main Streets in Torrington, has been in existence for less than three years, but it has already played a significant role in the revitalization of the city’s downtown. With its high ceilings and big […]

Aija Ends Its Run on Station Place

Pop-up planned for spring   By Ruth Melville For four and a half years, Bella Erder’s shop Aija, selling jewelry, accessories, tableware and other gifts, has been a lively and colorful part of Station Place. But last December Erder reluctantly decided it was time to close her doors. Erder and her family first bought a […]

Local Author Sees the Funny Side of Norfolk Life

Tony Thomson’s Second Career   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo A glance at Tony Thomson on paper (he was educated at Deerfield and Yale, served in the army during Vietnam, obtained graduate degrees from Oxford and Stanford and had a 30-year career in various investment management firms in London) doesn’t tell the whole story. While Thomson […]

Plantin’ Seeds in North Canaan Celebrates Farming

  By Ruth Melville Plantin’ Seeds Farm Kitchen, a new café and gathering place in North Canaan, is not your traditional restaurant. For one thing, it doesn’t charge money for its meals. Instead, it is a community resource, a mission and a project still taking shape. Plantin’ Seeds is the brainchild of Dale McDonald, a […]

Gearheads Working on New Robot

Northwestern robotics team receives grants from The Community Foundation of Northwest Connecticut   By Julie Scharnberg FIRST Robotics Team NRG4055 – better known as The Gearheads – from Northwestern Regional High School will build their robot this year with a new set of tools, thanks to a grant from the Ruth and Robert Cron Endowment […]

Wind Turbine Neighbors Report Adverse Effects

Green Energy, Sick Neighbors   By Wiley Wood It was mid-October, and Peg Papanek was thinking how lucky she was to live on Schoolhouse Road and bask in Norfolk’s beautiful weather and fall colors. She had built a fabulous patio during the summer. Now she was packing for a trip to Asheville, N.C., where she […]

Art Show in Norfolk’s Downtown

Aija, the gift store in Norfolk’s Station Place, will host an exhibition of ten local artists during the month of December. The artists sre Katherine Griswold, Tom Hlas (left, above), Fay O’Meara, Babs Perkins, Gary Rawson, David Roelofs, Turi Rostad, Susan Rood, Harmony Tanguay, Castle Yuran and Robin Yuran. Photos by Bruce Frisch.

Sue Dyer Wins Re-Election in Close Race

Voter Turn-Out Is 58 Percent   By Wiley Wood In an off-year election that drew 58 percent of the electorate to the polls, Sue Dyer, Norfolk’s incumbent first selectman, defeated first-time challenger Matt Riiska with 53 percent of the votes, winning 317 to 286. The other positions on the Board of Selectmen were uncontested. The […]

Norfolk’s Pension Plan Judged ‘Actuarily Solvent’

  By Susan MacEachron Only a few years ago, it was widely circulated that Norfolk’s pension plan for town employees was underfunded by $1 million and that the town would have to borrow to cover the shortfall. The market crash in 2008 had put the town’s plan in serious straits, according to Michael Sconyers, chairman […]

Onward and Upward With Botelle School

A Conversation With Superintendent Mary Beth Iacobelli   With the effort to consolidate the Norfolk and Colebrook primary schools defeated, Norfolk Now’s Wiley Wood visited Superintendent Mary Beth Iacobelli for a discussion of the present and future of Botelle School. The following interview has been edited and condensed.   NN: So Botelle School continues on. […]

Norfolk Resident Bob Gilchrest Guides Redesign of Falls Village

New Paving and Lights Make Main Street Safer for Pedestrians   By Ruth Melville   Thanks in large part to the efforts of Norfolk resident Bob Gilchrest, the town of Falls Village has a newly redone town center, designed to be both safer and more attractive. The Falls Village project was instigated by safety concerns. […]