• 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

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 […]

Copper Downspout Thefts Solved With Two Arrests

One of the accused was from Winsted, the other from Norfolk By Lloyd Garrison It was nine months ago in January that John Hester, who oversees the Battell Stoeckel estate and the Yale summer music and arts campus, phoned Barracks B in Canaan after fresh tire tracks in the snow led him to spot missing […]

Habitat for Humanity House Completed

Built in a year of Saturdays By Wiley Wood A year ago, it was just a hole in the ground. The long-vacant lot on Hillside Street was bought by Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Connecticut in 2009, but there was still nothing more on it than the remains of an earlier cellar hole. Today, a […]

Moose Hit by Car on Rte. 44—Police Offer Animal to Homeowner

The Bascetta family receive 200 pounds of meat By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo In the early morning hours of September 29, Brendan Tallon, 21, was driving home from Hartford with a friend from college. Less than two miles from their destination, the Norwich University students were startled to see a moose standing in the middle of […]

Norfolk Gets First New Selectman in 10 Years

Josh DeCerbo is now on Board By Bob Bumcrot For the first time in a decade the Norfolk Board of Selectmen has a new member. In the November 5 election, Josh DeCerbo was chosen to replace retiring Selectman James J. Stotler, Sr. Raised in Wallingford, Conn., DeCerbo came to Norfolk about ten years ago. “I’ve […]

Big Challenges from Aging Town Infrastructure

Nine million dollars of work clouds Norfolk’s future By Kurt Steele Like many aging towns across America, Norfolk struggles to keep its infrastructure operational and up-to-date. The town’s public roadways, sewer system, and fire and EMS buildings need regular maintenance as well as periodic rebuilding. “There is nothing simple about repairing and improving our 43 […]

Snow Guns at Region’s Four Ski Areas are Working Overtime

Mohawk gets the jump on the other three by opening Nov. 29 By Lloyd Garrison After two winters of dreary weather that crimped attendance, the region’s four ski areas are brimming with confidence that this year will be different. For the first time in recent memory, weather forecasters are predicting an exceptionally long string of […]