• 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 […]

  • 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, […]

Articles

Solar Generation On The Rise

Area Residents Find Solar Affordable By Bob Bumcrot Driving along Route 44 through East Canaan, it’s hard not to notice the large set of solar panels across the road from Freund’s farm: eight big arrays totaling 576 panels on the site of the old Couch farmhouse and barn. The 130-kilowatt installation by PurePoint Energy of […]

Question: What Makes Tuesdays at the Wood Creek Bar & Grill Consequential?

Local Event Gains Regional Following By Barbara Perkins What is a female rabbit called? St. Patrick is said to have cast what out of Ireland? What is the name of the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean? Krusty the Clown is featured on what TV show? Brotherhood, Revelations, Black Flag […]

New Botelle Superintendent Named

Dr. Mary Beth Iacobelli has been appointed to replace Superintendent of School George Counter, who retired at the end of June, according to an announcement by the Norfolk Board of Education. Dr. Iacobelli, who was superintendent of the East Haddam Public Schools from 2012 to 2014, has also served as an elementary school principal in […]

New Regulations Approved For Industrial Wind Turbines

In New England, opposition is getting serious By Veronica Burns After prolonged negotiations, Connecticut finally has regulations in place governing industrial wind turbines. Senator Kevin Witkos applauds the effort. “Colebrook has been identified as an area where wind power can prosper,” he stated in an e-mail. “The passage of these regulations will allow the installation […]

Minister Plans Sabbatical

Erick Olsen to visit Kenya in July By Sally Quale After nearly 11 years of service at The Church of Christ Congregational, the Reverend Erick Olsen will be taking his first sabbatical this July, August and September. He returns to the pulpit October 1. “This will not be a vacation,” he emphasizes, but an opportunity […]

The Drama of The Missing Man

Copters and canines used in hunt for retired teacher By Lloyd Garrison For two days in April, Norfolk witnessed numerous police cruisers on the prowl and two helicopters searching for Joseph Pappalardo, a 60-year old East Hartford man who had abandoned his parked Toyota Avalon at Station Place. Police said he was thought to be […]

Town Taxes and Spending Climb Slightly

Mill Rate to Rise 10 Percent By Wiley Wood The Board of Finance met twice in April to set Norfolk’s budget for 2014-2015, in advance of the annual budget hearing and town meeting. The town expects to raise $6,634,114 in taxes, an increase of $350,141 over last year, or 6 percent. “The mill rate’s going […]

Out and About

Not your Average Run Of the Mill By Rosanna Trestman Every piece of lumber begins as a log. Typically, the log goes from forest to sawmill, and comes out a plank cut to a uniform width, length and height. But at Berkshire Products, a sawmill tucked on Ashley Falls Road in Sheffield, Mass., the log’s […]

Veteran Editor to Join Norfolk Now

Ruth Melville has spent 40 years helping bringing books to life By Lloyd Garrison Last year, when Ruth Melville began showing up at Norfolk Now story conferences and volunteered to write for the paper, the editors were unaware of a true pro in their midst. Not only could she write, but she was a seasoned […]

Edward Machowski is Norfolk’s Resident Waterways Expert

By Colleen Gundlach Norfolk has a very environmentally aware population. From the Norfolk Land Trust to the Conservation Commission, people here know the importance of taking care of what they have been given. One of the townís most knowledgeable residents in the realm of protecting waterways and the fish that inhabit them, is biologist Edward […]

The Colebrook Store Goes Out of Business

A Revolving Door By Bob Bumcrot After only nine months of operation, the Colebrook Store closed its doors at the end of March due to significant management differences between the owners of the building, the Colebrook Preservation Society (CPS), and the store operator, Miriam Briggs. Briggs, who lives above the store with her sons Quentin, […]

Touring Musician Posts Norfolk Video Online

  While in Norfolk on February 27 to play a concert at Infinity Hall, folk musician Brett Dennen wandered the downtown area and made a short video, which has recently been posted to YouTube. In it he comments drolly on the nonexistent rush-hour traffic, the overly solicitous signs and the friendliness of the locals—who remained […]