• 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

Plan to Fight Homelessness in NW CT

Everyone needs safe place to call home By Ruth Melville Rural homelessness may not be as visible as urban homelessness, but that does not make it less real or less painful. A 2011 point-in-time count suggests that on any given night over 150 people in the Northwest Corner are homeless, and the percentage of those […]

Norfolk Land Trust Earns Accreditation

 National Recognition of Excellence   In February, the Norfolk Land Trust (NLT) received its accreditation from the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance (LTA). One of only 254 land trusts across the country that are currently accredited, the NLT is authorized to display a seal indicating to the […]

Norfolk Real Estate Officially Loses 9 Percent of Value in Last Five Years

Town Budget Likely to Remain Flat But Tax Rate Will Rise Slightly   By Wiley Wood Property in Norfolk is appraised every five years in keeping with state law, and the latest results are in, according to Assessor Michele Sloane. The grand list has lost about 4.6 percent of its value overall, with real estate […]

Digital Norfolk Council Formed

Fiber Optic Has Potential to Attract New Norfolk Residents   By Kurt Steele Kim Maxwell, a Norfolk resident who has been involved in a number of communications businesses, has been talking since last spring with town leaders and residents about the benefits of Norfolk building its own fiber optic high-speed system. “If fiber high-speed services […]

Robin Hood Radio & TV

Navigating The Sherwood Forest of Public Access   By Colleen Gundlach In Norfolk, tuning in to Channel 6 on cable television brings an array of locally produced programs, from a Botelle Board of Education meeting to a Salisbury zoning meeting to the daily Morning Show simulcast from WHDD in Sharon. Formally titled Community Access Television […]

Norfolk Foundation Plans Two-Building Project

Downtown Will Get Six Affordable Apartments   By Bob Bumcrot The Foundation for Norfolk Living is moving forward with plans to purchase two houses and convert them into affordable apartments. The houses, at 40 and 46 Greenwoods Road, sit next to the town meadow.   “We have options to purchase these adjacent homes,” said Lou […]

College Scholarships Available

The Norfolk Connecticut Children’s Foundation offers college scholarships to high school seniors who are Norfolk residents.  Completed applications are due by no later than May 15, 2014.  The application form is available on the NCCF website (www.norfolkchildren.com – “Apply For a Grant” tab).  If you have questions or need additional information, please contact any board member.

The Botelle Beat

Community Volunteers and a Winter Concert Enliven Winter Term   By Ann DeCerbo On Wednesday, February 5, Botelle School participated in the statewide Read Aloud Day. An annual event sponsored by the NW Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, Read Aloud Day stresses the importance of reading to elementary school students. Botelle Curriculum Coordinator Rachel Incillo recruited […]

Norfolk a Prime Target in Drug-Related Break-ins

Resident Trooper Greg Naylor warns the rise in crime here has become epidemic By Lloyd Garrison There has been a notable increase in criminal activity in and around  Norfolk since the last issue of Norfolk Now featured the arrest of Christopher Goodall. Goodall, who said he was suffering from pain pill withdrawal, confessed to stealing […]

Work on Regionalization Study Advances

Botelle Building Judged Big Enough for Both Towns By Wiley Wood As members of the citizens’ group studying regionalization examined the floor plan of the Botelle School during a public meeting in mid-December, they quickly reached the conclusion that there would be enough room in the building for all Norfolk and Colebrook primary-schoolers. The combined […]

Winter Birds

By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo Most of us, at one point or another, question why we stay in the Icebox of Connecticut throughout the winter months, but do you ever wonder why the birds do? When observing a little black-capped chickadee chipping away at a backyard feeder with four inches of snow on it, do you […]

Barbara Spiegel Named Person of the Year

By Ruth Melville To honor Norfolk resident Barbara Spiegel’s leadership in caring for victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Litchfield County and for helping Torrington emerge from a widely-publicized alleged rape scandal with a better understanding of the issue, The Register Citizen named Spiegel their 2013 Person of the Year. Spiegel grew up in […]