• Work to Resume on Route 44 and New Firehouse

    Warmer temps ensure concrete quality By Avice Meehan Two significant Norfolk projects that were put on hold because of below-zero temperatures this winter are expected to resume by mid-March: Reconstruction of two retaining walls along Route 44 and the construction of a new firehouse for the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department. Engineers for the state Department […]

  • Richard Byrne Retires as Active Firefighter

    After 58 years, veteran status By Joseph Kelly He was a young Navy veteran, about to be married and ready to start a family in his hometown when, in February 1968, his older brother convinced him to join the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD). For Richard Byrne it was the start of an association that […]

  • Rock ‘n Roll House Party Circus Will Benefit Local Food Banks

    Three Grammy nominees to perform at Infinity Hall By Colleen Gundlach On April 11, Infinity Hall will be the setting for Rock ‘n Roll House Party Circus, a concert that will benefit Stock the Shelves, an outreach of United Way of Northwestern Connecticut. The Rock ‘n Roll House Party Circus will feature three Grammy nominees […]

  • Rom-Com Curling Film Released With Olympics

    To get the ice just right, filmmakers tapped Norfolk expertise By Joseph Kelly The underdogs who battle the odds—the washed-up boxer, the outclassed football team, the aging baseball slugger with one last homerun in him—are all Hollywood standbys. Ronald Reagan may be remembered as much for “win one for the Gipper” as he is for […]

  • How Botelle (Carefully) Uses AI for Learning

    By Avice Meehan For more than three decades, children visited the fictional town of Frog Creek, Penn., home to two children named Jack and Annie. With the help of a magic tree house, the pair are whisked away to distant places where they have adventures, solve problems and, perhaps, learn a thing or two. Like […]

  • Choral Singing Meets Bluegrass

    LCCU welcomes all ages to sing new styles By Andra Moss The Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) is entering its 127th concert year with decidedly youthful energy. Under the direction of Music Director Dr. Gabriel Löfvall, the LCCU will convene a youth choral festival in Norfolk in late spring; offer a series of choral seminars […]

  • Winter Weekend In Norfolk

    It was a cold and blustery weekend, but that didn’t stop the hardy from coming out on Feb. 21 and 22 for Winter WIN, the weekend for enjoying all things Norfolk in the winter season. The photos below show a story of a town that came together to strut its stuff for the world to […]

  • From Freeze to Flow: Extreme Temps and the Maple Syrup Season

    Reaching that ideal mix of natural conditions By Jude Mead The extreme cold and heavy snowfall this season has raised some concern among maple syrup producers. Reports of loud, cracking noises in wooded areas have set the stage for a phenomenon called “frost cracking.” During these periods of intense cold, the water and sap inside […]

  • Sit Right Back and You’ll Hear a Tale

    With Jude Mead at the guitar and with great enthusiasm, members of the Isabella Eldridge Club defied a threatened winter storm and entered Battell Chapel on Feb. 10 for a memorable performance of an episode of “Gilligan’s Island,” a daft 1960s television comedy. Despite the best efforts of the Professor (played by Marinell Crippen, left) […]

  • Cook For Goodness Sake

    America The Melting Pot By Linda Garrettson In celebration of the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, it seems appropriate to dedicate my food column this year to America, who we are, and what we eat. Get ready for some history lessons, and perhaps surprises that might enlighten you to what we call American […]

  • Be Careful, Very Careful

    An expert team from the Glass Source Stained Glass Studio spent nearly six hours in cold mid-January weather care-fully removing a cathedral stained glass window from Battell Chapel at the United Church of Christ before transporting it to their studio in Seymour for restoration. In this photo, Michael Skrtic balances one section of the window […]

  • The Week that Was

    First, frigid temperatures forced the relocation of Norfolk’s valiant Post Office staff to Winsted because of scheduled asbestos remediation, leaving box holders temporarily puzzled. Then, the big snow arrived on Jan. 25 and 26. Estimates vary widely: Russell Russ reported the official tally at the Great Mountain Forest weather station as 15.2 inches, but others […]

Articles

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 […]

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), […]