• 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

The Norfolk Library Book Group

Varied books, good background info, open to all By Anne Frieze On a designated Friday approximately once a month, twenty to thirty people gather in a circle ready to discuss a book chosen by Mark Scarbrough, the facilitator of the Norfolk Library Book Group. In its fourth year, it is one of the core ongoing […]

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 […]