• Berkshire Store to Close, Another to Open

    By Avice Meehan Ryan Craig, who has operated the Berkshire Country Store for a decade, has announced that he will shutter the business on Oct. 31. The news was shared in a Facebook post on Sept. 23, prompting hundreds of comments and many mournful visits to the eatery and convenience store on Station Place. Craig, […]

  • Norfolk Scholar Marinates on Medieval Cookbook

    By Avice Meehan Anyone with a tattered copy of the “Moosewood Cookbook,” the bible of vegetarian cooking published some 50 years ago, understands that cookbooks are about more than recipes. They can signal political and cultural beliefs, social aspirations and more. So consider the significance of a cookbook published more than 600 years ago. It […]

  • Digital Navigators Set a Course for Norfolk Library

    Help offered for range of tech needs By Ann Havemeyer On Mondays, beginning in October, there will be a new face at the Norfolk Library. Jennifer Lutris is the new part-time “digital navigator,” one of two navigators shared among the seven Northwest Corner libraries (Norfolk, Canaan, Falls Village, Salisbury, Sharon, Cornwall and Kent). A digital […]

  • Norfolk’s WWII Combat Cameraman

    Daughter’s film on Walter Rosenblum shows the faces of war By Patricia Platt Longtime Norfolk resident Nina Rosenblum presented her award-winning documentary “They Fight With Cameras” to a full house at the Norfolk Library on Saturday, Sept. 26. The film tells the story of her father, decorated U.S. Army Signal Corps combat cameraman Walter Rosenblum. […]

  • Aging in Place

    Historic Church Ceiling Needs a Refresh By Avice Meehan After more than 200 years of good and faithful service to the congregation of Norfolk’s United Church of Christ, the soaring barrel vault ceiling of the Meeting House requires a major overhaul. The wood lathe and plaster ceiling, likely installed in 1813, has developed serious fault […]

  • A Wall That’s Also a Bridge to the Past

    By Andra Moss The rustic stone wall is a Connecticut icon. Historians estimate that most of the roughly 100,000 miles of stone walls that criss-cross the state were built between 1750 and 1850 by settlers clearing their fields. One Norfolk resident has recently added 65 feet of historic stone wall to the tally, but its […]

  • Engineer Gives Tobey Dam “Poor” Rating

    Owners will assess the 115-year-old structure By Avice Meehan Time and nature have taken their toll on a 1911 dam and spillway located at the western edge of Tobey Pond. The structures, which have withstood many significant weather events, received a “poor” rating in a recent inspection report required by the state Department of Energy […]

  • The Mindful Moments of Miranda Lee

    Interview by Jude Mead For the past four years, Miranda Lee has shared her yoga skills and yoga teaching tools with the broader community through Find That Pause, a free Saturday morning mindfulness program that began at the Norfolk Library and has since grown into a multi-library and hospital wellness program. For Lee, mindfulness isn’t […]

  • Botelle Beat

    Student Leadership From Bell to Bell By Lauren Valentino As principal of Botelle School, one of my greatest joys is watching our students grow into thoughtful, responsible and active leaders. Families, community members and visitors to our school often notice the dedication of our fantastic teachers and staff, but what they might not realize is […]

  • Signed, Sealed and Delivered

    Having left her mark indelibly on the Norfolk Post Office, Kathy Bascetta retired on Sept. 30 after 23 years with the Postal Service. A visit to the post office–the center point for most of the Norfolk community—will not be quite the same without her. Let neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night […]

  • There’s Much More Than Water in There

    Elementary school students from Norfolk, Barkhamsted, Colebrook and Hartland gathered on Sept. 25 at the Riverton Fair Grounds to learn about the history of the Farmington River and its role in shaping the regional environment. Here, Botelle students, including Daphne Rutolo, learned about the many insects and other creatures that call the river home.

  • Following the Fall Migration—One Birder’s View

    By Jude Mead Every fall, the skies become highways for millions of migrating birds, many of them traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles to reach their wintering grounds. From tiny warblers and sparrows to hawks, geese and nighthawks, birds rely on a remarkable combination of instinct, environmental cues and, in some species, experience to […]

Articles

School Budget, Truck Replacements Occupy Finance Board

By Susan MacEachron and Avice Meehan The Board of Finance held two meetings in March. On March 10, members heard presentations from the Botelle School Board of Education (BOE), the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) and First Selectman Henry Tirrell. At a March 24 special meeting, Tirrell shared the draft town budget, sought BOF approval […]

Mountain Road Detour Set for April 6

Motorists, cyclists, runners and walkers who enjoy the view of Norfolk’s iconic snake fence on Mountain Road will soon need to find an alternate path to Westside Road or destinations accessed from further along Mountain Road, among them the Curling Club and the Norfolk Country Club. Starting in early April, crews from Dayton Construction will […]

Baffling Budget Move Needed

By Avice Meehan Norfolk voters will likely see an unusual item on the agenda for this year’s annual town meeting in May: A request to appropriate $58,366 for Botelle Elementary School for the current fiscal year. The action will ensure that Norfolk remains in compliance with a nearly 40-year-old state statute that sets out minimum […]

NORFOLK WEATHER

February 2026: Cold and Snowy By Russell Russ The strong winter of 2025-26 continued through February. Deep freeze conditions are defined by periods when the daily high temperature does not exceed 32 degrees for 10 consecutive days. Norfolk was under those conditions for 18 consecutive days between Jan. 23 and Feb. 9. A high of […]

Greening of Norfolk

Spicebush: A Four-Season Gem By Jill Chase As a gardener, bee keeper and amateur naturalist, I am always looking for those magical plants that check all the boxes. Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is just such a plant. This undervalued shrub has much to offer. Spicebush starts the show early with a subtle display of bright green-yellow […]

BOOK TALK

Agility for the Win By Avice Meehan As Liz Tran worked on her first book, a conversation with a good friend made her realize that she needed to start over. If that wasn’t challenging enough, Tran found herself working inside a canvas camping tent during a hot Norfolk summer—just so that she could have decent […]

WORD TO THE WISE

Take Care to Avoid a Fall By Jude Mead After a long, icy winter that saw a spike in falls across town, residents are urged to look beyond seasonal hazards. While snow and ice can make conditions more dangerous, many serious falls occur daily during routine activities indoors, outdoors, or at work. The National Safety […]

Book Signing at the Library

Harriet Newman Cohen signs a copy of her newly-published book for Maura May after a riveting talk on March 21 at the Norfolk Library along with her coauthor David Feinberg. Their book, “Passion and Power: A Life in Three Worlds,” traces her ground-breaking career as a leading divorce attorney, from entering a male-dominated legal world […]

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 […]

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 […]