• 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

Landowners Make Clear-Cuts to Benefit Rare Cottontail Rabbit

Norfolk area to create 28 acres of new “rabittat” By Wiley Wood This winter, two separate tracts of forest are being clear-cut in the Norfolk area to make habitat for the rare New England Cottontail. At the corner of Wangum and Canaan Mountain roads, an 18-acre parcel belonging to Great Mountain Forest (GMF), is being […]

News From the Sugarbush

Family Maple Syrup Operation Gears Up for Unpredictable Season By Jude Mead It is maple syrup season again, and people always ask what type of year we are expecting. They believe that a heavy snowfall in winter must mean lots of maple sap in the trees, while a dry winter means less sap. But for […]

It’s All About the Data

Consultant takes hard look at Norfolk market area By Wiley Wood No one opens a business these days—no bank will lend money to start a business—without taking a hard look at the existing demand. “The days of ‘build it and they will come’ are long gone,” says Michael Goman. Which is where the firm of […]

Library Receives $200,000 Grant to Restore Tile Roof

Capital Campaign to Raise Additional Funds Starts February 1 By Ruth Melville Wednesday, January 7, was a red-letter day in the history of the Norfolk Library. At 4:15 p.m., the library’s board of trustees received the good news they were hoping for, their application for a $200,000 grant from the state to help restore the […]

Frank Dooley Ends his Reign as Chairman of Democratic Town Committee

By Janet Gokay Frank Dooley is stepping down this February from his post as chairman of the Norfolk Democratic Town Committee, a position he’s held for over 35 years. It’s been a long run, and by all accounts, an excellent one. “I’ve been very fortunate in my life,” says Dooley. “I’ve been in the right […]

Town Map Under Construction

Norfolk group nears completion of marketing piece By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo While Norfolk has long been averse to promoting itself by any means other than word of mouth, a major marketing tool is currently in the works. A detailed map of all Norfolk has to offer will be in print before Memorial Day. As map […]

Colebrook Store Reopens

By Christopher Sinclair Prior to the shuttering of the Colebrook Store in 2007, it “had been the oldest continuously operated general store in the state of Connecticut, encompassing a span stretching from 1812 until 2007, 195 years,” according to the Colebrook Historical Society website. The store has seen countless residents pass through its doors over […]

The Lights Go Out at Great Impressions

Tenant Sought for Vacated Hair Salon By Colleen Gundlach With the closing last month of Norfolk’s only hair salon, Great Impressions, the south corner of Station Place at Route 44 looks dark. But, in the words of an old Chinese proverb, “Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Martha Pallone, owner of […]

Bill Gridley Dies After Brief Illness

William Gill Gridley, Jr. died peacefully after a brief illness Saturday, November 29 at his Norfolk home under the loving care of his family and hospice nurses and aides of the Foothills Visiting Nurses Association. Gridley was born January 10, 1929 in New York City, the son of Elizabeth Meeker and William Gill Gridley. His […]

Farmers Market Plows on Through Winter Months

Thriving from May to October for eight years strong, the Norfolk Farmers Market now has a winter presence as well. Moving inside, to the second floor of town hall, for the cold weather months, food vendors sell their products twice a month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Winter markets will be held on February […]

The Sharing Economy Comes to Norfolk

New Business Model Threatens Local Innkeeper By Wiley Wood The basic idea of the sharing economy is that if you have an asset that is not being fully used—a car that sits in the driveway, a vacant couch, a pup tent in a closet, fancy camera equipment—you can hook up through the digital world with […]

Russell Russ Records Norfolk’s Weather for the National Weather Service

Continuing an 82-Year Tradition By Colleen Gundlach There has been a lot of discussion in Norfolk about the town’s ability to keep young people here and provide them employment. There are, however, families whose contribution to the town has spanned generations and provided not only a livelihood but a way of life. The Russ family […]