• 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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.

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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, […]

  • 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

Notables: Hayden Carruth

By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo As we begin another summer season in Norfolk, our sleepy town’s pulse begins to quicken. The number of cars and pedestrians multiplies seemingly overnight, forcing us back into the habit of actually looking both ways before turning onto any of our roads—a sure sign that “the summer people” are here. Summer […]

Resident Trooper Funding Cut

At the annual town meeting on May 11, the 75 residents in attendance voted to discontinue funding for the resident state trooper. Sergeant Jenko of the Connecticut State Police, above, presented the case for a town to keep its resident trooper, citing the importance of having an officer who knows the town, is able to determine […]

It Was 40 Years Ago Today, Sergeant Pepper Took the Troops Away

Norfolk Vietnam Vets discuss the way it was By Colleen Gundlach In the 40 years since the fall of Saigon essentially ended the Vietnam War, people who lived through it have strong memories of the tumult, upheaval and ultimate sacrifice of this period of our history. More than 58,000 American military members were killed fighting […]

Back to Back Marathons for Norfolk Sisters

Mary Bazzano-Reeve and Margaret Alexson run for health and fun By Colleen Gundlach Passion and excitement shine from Mary Bazzano-Reeve’s face when she talks about running. It is a sport to which she had never aspired, but one that has led her and her sister, Margaret Alexson, to marathons across the county. During the past […]

It’s Only Natural

Lessons in a Hemlock Wood by Hans M. Carlson   There is a palpable quietness to a grove of very old hemlock, a sense of grandeur that settles on you if you spend a little time beneath them. These stands are special places in Norfolk, and we have several on Great Mountain Forest (GMF). Some […]

New Cupola Tops Music Shed

The first phase of restoration of Norfolk’s historic Music Shed is finished. The new cupola, an exact copy of the original copper-domed cupola that has been missing for so long that no one remembers when it fell down, was installed in time for Memorial Day weekend, and restores the natural ventilation system of the original […]

Norfolk Then…

Norfolk boy scouts stand with their leader Carroll Estes on the steps of the Church of Christ Congregational about 1960. Scouting came to Norfolk fifty years earlier in 1911 when architect Alfredo Taylor formed the first troop, named for Norfolk benefactor Frederick M. Shepard, and served as scoutmaster.  After a hiatus during World War II, […]

Community News

Quilt-in at Church of Christ May 2, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Quilt-in in the chapel dining room, to make log cabin quilts for the Susan B. Anthony Project. No experience necessary. Pot luck lunch will be served. For more information, contact Shirley Metcalf at shirleymetcalf@comcast.net. Rabies Clinic May 2, 10 a.m.-noon. Norfolk’s Animal Control Officer Glen […]

Ellen Griesedieck’s Mural Project Celebrates the American Worker

By Ruth Melville Ellen Griesedieck thinks big. Her latest project has been 15 years in the making and is five stories tall. Griesedieck is the artist and driving force behind the American Mural Project. The three-dimensional mural, designed as a tribute to the working people of the United States, will eventually be 120 feet long, […]

Just Kidding Around at Lost Ruby Farm

  It’s Kidding Time Text: Baby goats have arrived at Lost Ruby Farm. Ten nannies gave birth, and their milk is now being used to make the farm’s cheeses. Most of the adorable babies are to be sold, available via Craigslist or contact the farm.

Norfolk’s March Weather   

Another Cold Month, but Springtime Is Near By Russell Russ This winter and early spring continued to be cold, very much like last year. The big weather related news this March was the unprecedented water line and sewer line freeze-ups that occurred all over Norfolk and in surrounding towns. The depth of the frost was […]

The Cafe at the Top of Connecticut

By Richard Kessin Photographs by Bruce Frisch I take visitors from the city on walks through Barbour Woods or up Haystack until they are proud of their wilderness adventures and very hungry.  “Can you get lunch around here?” they ask skeptically. “Trust me,” I say as I walk with them to Station Place Café and […]