• Norfolk Crowds Return to New Farmers Market

    By Andra Moss The crowd was large, loud and loving it at July’s Northwest Farm to Fork farmers market, held under the pavilion at Norbrook Farm Brewery. “We were very pleased with the turnout, with approximately 230 customers coming through and 16 food and farm vendors,” says Lisa Auclair, a co-founder, with Devin Grosso and […]

  • Friday Night on the Green Celebrates America’s 250th

    July 3 was a picture-perfect night for the community-wide event cel-ebrating America’s Independence. Following a quick parade, picnickers enjoyed burgers and ice cream while judges dug into the entries in the pie baking contest. First Selectman Hen-ry Tirrell moved seamlessly from his welcome speech to the dunk tank, and a few folks, like Pete Sanders […]

  • NORFOLK REMEMBERS Laurene Mary Wallace

    Laurene Mary Wallace, 77, of Colebrook passed peacefully at home surrounded by her family on Friday, July 10, 2026. Laurene was born on April 28, 1949, in Bridgeport, the last of four children born to the late Lawrence and Irene (Misencik) Firmender of Stratford. A retired registered nurse, Laurene’s career in nursing and cardiac rehabilitation […]

  • Norfolk Remembers Sally Sterling Ellis Quale

    Sally Sterling Ellis Quale, of Norfolk and St. Petersburg, Fla., formerly of Bronxville, N.Y., died unexpectedly of heart failure on July 7 at the age of 87. Sally will be remembered for her deep commitment to her family and communities and for her warmth, kindness, intelligence, creativity … and, of course, for her beautiful smile […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This charming house, still standing on the west side of Litchfield Rd., was built in 1905 for Richmond Paine, the newly appointed conductor of the Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU). Carl and Ellen Battell Stoeckel engaged the architect Ehrick Rossiter to design the house for Paine as well as the Music Shed for performances by […]

  • Norfolk’s Newest Neighborhood Puts Down Roots

    Haystack Woods lauded as a “model for the state” By Joe Kelly Norfolk’s newest neighborhood, the Haystack Woods affordable housing development, has officially come to life. A year ago, the 39-acre location—a former gravel pit off Old Colony Road—was little more than a muddy building site. Now construction of the 10, two- and three-bedroom homes […]

  • Winsted Church Auctions Tiffany Window for $1.25 Million

    Sale highlights women’s role in Tiffany designs By Joe Kelly When medieval architects found ways to build taller cathedrals, the techniques they developed also made possible the enormous stained-glass windows that we so enjoy today, such as at Chartres and Sainte-Chapelle in France and Canterbury Cathedral in England. American-made stained glass is more recent, dating […]

  • A Revolutionary Year

    1776 Norfolk explored in summer exhibition By Andra Moss Communities across the country are looking back with wonder at 1776, the year that 13 British colonies initiated a revolution that, against astonishing odds, led to the birth of an independent republic. In Norfolk, two curators have combed the Norfolk Historical Society’s (NHS) collection for colonial-era […]

  • SUMMER MUSIC: Familiar Quartets, New Composers at Yale Chamber Festival

    By Patricia Platt The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, running from July 3 until Aug. 22, will present an exciting season of classical, innovative and international music. This summer, the Brentano Quartet, Shanghai Quartet, Ying Quartet and the Horszowski Trio are among those who will perform during weekend concerts and serve as artist-in-residence mentors to the […]

  • Botelle Students Move Up

    By Avice Meehan Four sixth graders bid farewell to Botelle Elementary School at a laughter-filled, but occasionally serious, ceremony on June 16 that was attended by family, friends and town officials. First Selectmen Henry Tirrell, a Botelle graduate whose mother and aunt taught at the school for many years, reminded the students that they would […]

  • Norfolk Rail-Trail Project Pedals Forward

    By Jude Mead After more than a decade of planning, permiting and redesign work, Norfolk’s long-await-ed Rails-to-Trails initiative has reached a major milestone, bringing the community closer to the creation of a new multi-use recreational trail along a historic railroad corridor. The project is the North Brook Trail, a planned three-quarter-mile ADA-accessi-ble pathway that will […]

  • LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Budgets, Beetles, Nips and More

    By Avice Meehan State Rep. Maria Horn came prepared to share details about the Connecticut budget (she is co-chair of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee) and the progress that has been made toward paying down the state’s unfunded pension liability, increasing the rainy day fund (now up to $18 billion) and allocating more state funds […]

Articles

Keeping Town Roads Safe This Winter

How Much Damage Does Salt Cause to Cars and the Environment? By Ruth Melville Everyone knows that salt is bad for cars, roads, and the environment, but living in a northern state, we need our roads to be clear and safe to drive on despite our often severe winters. For the past six years, the […]

State Grant Aims at Revitalizing Town Centers in the Northwest Corner

New Economic Development Professional to Advise Local Businesses By Kurt Steele A promising new chapter in Norfolk’s planning and development is about to open. The Northwest Hills Council of Governments (NHCOG), through its Northwest Connecticut Regional Planning Collaborative, has recently received a $249,000 grant from the state to fund “village center vitality” initiatives in the […]

New Director Appointed at Great Mountain Forest

Seeing the Forest and the Trees By Veronica Burns Newcomers to this rural town are often asked, “What brought you to Norfolk?” In the case of Hans Carlson, the recently appointed director of Great Mountain Forest (GMF), it was to work with local canoe builder Schuyler Thomson in 1987. Carlson, who was born and raised […]

Norfolk and Colebrook Selectmen Extend Life of Regionalization Study Group

State Department of Education to Propose Legislative Amendments By Wiley Wood The Norfolk-Colebrook Study Group, formed in the wake of town referendums in December 2012, is nearing its second anniversary. State statutes give the group two years to propose a plan for regionalizing the towns’ primary schools, renewable for a second two years. The boards […]

Center Cemetery: A Walk Through Time

New Columbarium Almost Finished   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo At the entrance to Center Cemetery off of Old Colony Road, a wood sign affixed to a towering maple tree invites “friends” to “take care how you walk and act, for you are walking on holy ground, the graves of beloved family and friends. Remember them, […]

Rosanna Trestman Retires from Norfolk Now

Co-founder bows out but the play goes on By Colleen Gundlach With the retirement of Rosanna Trestman from its editorial staff, the curtain falls on the opening act of Norfolk Now. The overture began when Lloyd Garrison, a retired foreign correspondent for the New York Times, met a freelance journalist and photographer and together they […]

Norfolk Awarded $500,000 to Enhance City Meadow

Plan Combines Water Quality and Recreation By Wiley Wood A plan to turn the five-acre wetland in the center of Norfolk into a storm-water park has been awarded a $500,000 state grant, Governor Dannell P. Malloy’s office announced on September 17. The projected City Meadow will offer paths, boardwalks and benches for strollers, as well […]

Fadhl Saleh Closes Corner Store

Last-Ditch Effort to Save Town Business Falls Short By Ruth Melville On his last day of business, Corner Store owner Fadhl Saleh is visibly upset as he looks around at the empty shelves of his store. “I tried, but it just didn’t work,” he says sadly. “In the end, the stress was terrible, unbearable.” Saleh, […]

FairWindCT Appeal Against Wind Turbines Is Denied

State Supreme Court sides with siting council and developer By Veronica Burns FairWindCT, the grassroots opposition group to BNE Energy’s wind turbine project in Colebrook, has just received the decision on its appeal to the Connecticut Supreme Court: rejection. The judges voted 6–0 that the New Britain Superior Court was correct in 2012 to dismiss […]

George Counter: Norfolk’s Retiring Superintendent of Schools

By Wiley Wood A gathering Sunday, September 14 honored Norfolk’s departing superintendent of schools, George Counter. As the guests spilled out over a sunny lawn with drinks in hand, a 70-pound pig was lifted from the bed of coals where it had roasted since dawn and was carved into portions. Counter retired as superintendent of […]

USA Curling Gives National Award to Mary Fanette

By Wiley Wood In December 2011, Mary Fanette was in her second and final term as president of the Norfolk Curling Club. Already on the boards of several Norfolk nonprofits and serving as the town’s volunteer webmaster, Fanette may have been looking forward to stepping down that coming May. Then the clubhouse burned to the […]

Norfolk Land Trust and Great Mountain Forest Publish Updated Trail Guides

Lace Up Your Hiking Boots By Ruth Melville Local hikers now have two new resources for exploring the Norfolk woods. Both the Norfolk Land Trust and Great Mountain Forest have recently released improved and expanded guides to hiking trails in the Norfolk area. The new, fifth edition of the Land Trust Trail Guide is the […]