• Inside the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art

    A season of student and community activity By Patricia Platt For over 80 years, the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Trust has endowed Yale University’s summer music and art programs in Norfolk. The renowned Yale Norfolk School of Art opens the 2026 summer season on May 23, before the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival begins, and shares its […]

  • Trio Revives Local Farmers Market

    Northwest Farm to Fork launches at Norbrook By Andra Moss When Devin Grosso and her husband moved to Norfolk in 2024, she was disappointed to learn that the town’s farmers market had permanently closed just the year before. However, a chance meeting at the Botelle School garden with Lisa Auclair, who had managed the Norfolk […]

  • Tracing the Dudley Legacy

    Family history and the truth behind Dudleytown By Jude Mead The Dudley name, with roots stretching back to 14th-century England, carries with it a long and often dramatic history. For Susan Dudley of Winchester, that legacy has been a lifelong source of curiosity—particularly her family’s connection to Dudleytown, the long-abandoned settlement hidden within Cornwall’s Dark […]

  • Cultivars, Nativars and Natives: The Lowdown

    by Susannah Wood It’s May and gardening is in full swing. At nurseries and on gardening sites, beginners and enthusiasts often encounter plants labelled “cultivar” or “nativar,” as well as “native.” What is the difference between a cultivar and a nativar? If someone wants to support local ecosystems and biological diversity, are nativars a good […]

  • Noteworthy Natives: Arrowwood Viburnum

    By Jill Chase For some, a mass of viburnums in bloom on the woodlands edge rivals the beauty of any formal garden around. The fresh white flowers on green foliage let you know that the spring garden season is well and truly on. There are several good varieties of viburnum—some produce blooms like snowballs, while […]

  • A Town Hall Treat for Pollinators

    The Norfolk Nature Alliance sponsored a student native plant garden project at Town Hall. The Northwestern Regional 7 Agricultural Education Program/FFA arrived on a sunny Sunday to install the donated native shrubs and perennials.

  • Birds Now

    A view on the prose and poetry of spring By Cheryl Heller As I write, the red-winged blackbirds are partying outside my window. Goldfinches, in their bright almost-summer feathers, make yellow polkadots in the dogwood that will flower any day. The phoebe (or her daughter) who has nested on our hanging porch light for the […]

  • Happiness Is …

    Smiles and squeals greeted “Farmer John” Coston as he surprised the Merrymakers group of kindergarten and first-graders with a lamb visit at the Norfolk Library’s after-school program on March 23. Cuties and lambs—need we say more?

  • Greenwoods Puppet Festival Returns to Norfolk Library

    By Bina ThomsonThe Greenwoods Puppet Festival returns to Norfolk for a third exciting showcase of puppet magic. Children’s Librarian and Event Coordinator Eileen Fitzgibbons, who has coordinated the previous two festivals, is busy fine-tuning this year’s offerings. In addition to a full day of performances, a puppetry workshop for adults will also be offered. Festivities […]

  • Botelle Beat

    Power Goals and WIN Time Personalize Learning at Botelle By Lauren Valentino One of Botelle School’s SOAR expectations is to Achieve Your Goals. We believe that when students know their goals—what they are learning, why and what success looks like—they are more engaged and motivated. They are partners in the learning process and own their […]

  • Courtney Maum’s Comedic Take on Capitalism

    On June 2nd, Norfolk author Courtney Maum launches her new novel, “ALAN OPTS OUT” (Little Brown) at the Norfolk Library in conversation with WAMC radio’s Sarah LaDuke. The book is a comedy about an ad exec who bombs the biggest pitch of his career and decides to move into a backyard playhouse, opt out of […]

  • “You Shall Not Pass!”

    Gandalf and the state Department of Transportation have spoken. Mountain Road at Westside Road is now closed through November for the Spaulding Brook bridge replacement project. Traffic is being detoured off Route 44 via Westside Road. Cars can still reach the ball fields along the short stretch of Mountain Road.

Articles

Wooden Canoes Thrive in South Norfolk

Thomson Canoe Works Still Builds Canoes by Hand By Ruth Melville A summer job at a canoeing camp led Norfolk resident Schuyler Thomson to an unanticipated profession, and he has now been building and repairing handmade wooden canoes for over 30 years. Thomson, who grew up in Woodbury, Conn., graduated from the University of Connecticut […]

Ann Havemeyer Is New Director of Norfolk Library

On Monday, September 22, the Norfolk Library announced the appointment of Ann Havemeyer as director, starting October 1, 2014. Havemeyer, previously curator of the Library’s special collections, has served as interim director of the library since June, when she replaced Luisa Sabin-Kildiss. Havemeyer holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and is the author of several […]

Massachussetts Approves Railway Track Upgrade to Pittsfield

Campaign Hopes to Restore Passenger Rail Service from NYC By Ruth Melville On August 14, a group of about 40 residents of Litchfield County crowded into the Wandering Moose Café in West Cornwall to discuss the possibility of restoring passenger train service from Grand Central Station in New York City to northwest Connecticut and the […]

Engaging the Paradox: The Secret Corner Should Not be a Secret

Local businesses work to raise visibility By Christopher Sinclair While the verdant, ambling hills of the southern Berkshires, rife with clear streams and winding trails, receive the lion’s share of attention from people passing through or visiting, some individuals in the northwest corner are working to bring attention back to a somewhat neglected facet of […]

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 […]