• 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

Housatonic Heritage Walks to Explore the Beauty and Culture of the Area

Norfolk Events Include Hikes in Great Mountain Forest and Stained Glass Windows By Ruth Melville On two weekends this fall, September 20 and 21, and October 4 and 5, Housatonic Heritage will be sponsoring its 13th annual Heritage Walks program. The walks are designed to explore the multifarious aspects—natural, cultural, historical—of the Upper Housatonic Valley. […]

Clean Energy Can Be Generated In Connecticut

By Martha Klein Connecticut gets 51% of its electricity from natural gas, and another 41% from the Millstone nuclear plant near New London. The state has 20 natural gas burning power plants bringing electricity to the grid. The one coal-burning plant, Bridgeport Harbor Generating Station, contributes a mere 1.4% to net electrical generation. The remaining […]

Lone Oak Campsites: 50 Years

The Browns of East Canaan celebrate semicentennial of family farm turned campground By Colleen Gundlach There was an air of excitement, friendship and festivity on August 16 in East Canaan as Lone Oak Campsites celebrated its 50th anniversary by throwing an all-day party for the people who have been a part of the business over […]

Cadillacs Are Good For Norfolk Business

General Motors entourage drives into town By Jonathan Barbagallo “What are all of those Cadillacs doing on Station Place?” “Why are there a lot of executives walking around town?” These questions were heard during the last week of July throughout Norfolk as a fleet of brand new 2015 Cadillac ATS Coupes descended on Station Place […]

Sauntering Across Connecticut, Stopping in Norfolk

Hartford Courant Reporter Dan Haar Explores Route 44 By Michael Kelly The Hartford Courant,founded in 1764, is celebrating its 250th anniversary and simultaneously saluting its distinction as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the country with a year-long series of events. For his part of the celebration, Courant reporter, Dan Haar, decided to walk across […]

Botelle School Grapples With Common Core Standards

New requirements mandate familiarity with technology By Robert Carter In July 2010, Connecticut joined over 40 states in adopting the new national standards for English and math education known as Common Core. The Botelle School administration is in the process of implementing the new standards and is working with faculty to develop curriculums and teaching […]

Emerald Ash Borer Reaches Litchfield County

Insect Likely to be Present in Norfolk Already Loss of All Local Ash Trees Expected By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station issued a press release last month that the emerald ash borer (EAB) beetle population is rapidly expanding throughout the state. The original Connecticut infestation of the invasive Chinese beetle began in […]

HamletHub Comes to Norfolk and Canaan

A new resource for sharing local stories By Ruth Melville HamletHub is a network of “hyperlocal” websites whose driving mission is to help local people share local stories with their communities. The project is the brainchild of Kerry Anne Ducey. About two and a half years ago, Ducey was working as a writer for a […]

Local Input Requested on Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan

The Northwest Hills Council of Governments is preparing an update to the “Litchfield Hills Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan” prepared in 2006. A draft of the updated section prepared for our town is available for review by clicking here. The NHCOG is accepting public comments on the draft report through the end of July. The purpose […]

Gift of Rental Properties Extends Family’s Legacy

By Wiley Wood The Foundation for Norfolk Living (FNL), a housing nonprofit, has announced the pending gift to the foundation of a sizable property belonging to Ralph Burr. The parcel, on Greenwoods Road East, numbers 29-32, has three houses on it, divided into six rental units and has been in the Burr family since 1913. […]

Lloyd Garrison, Founding Editor of Norfolk Now, Dies at 83

By Wiley Wood Lloyd Garrison, a journalist, editor and Norfolk presence for the past 18 years, who covered Europe and Africa for The New York Times in the 1960’s and in retirement founded this newspaper, died at his home in Norfolk on June 21. He was 83 years old. The cause was complications of prostate […]

Local Man Triggers AIRCON RED Alert Over D.C.

By Susannah Wood Around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 7th, a small plane entered restricted airspace over Washington, D.C. leading to an AIRCON RED alert and the evacuation of the U.S. Capitol building, the Supreme Court building, the Library of Congress and other office buildings in the vicinity, according to the Associated Press and CNN. […]