• The chicken who wanted to be a star and other tales from a norfolk movie set

    By Andra Moss Secrets and small towns don’t often pair well, and Norfolk is a small town. Yet, for eight weeks this summer, a crew of nearly 100 people quietly transformed Tim and Paula Webster’s 1908 Norfolk farmhouse into a film set for a feature-length production, all the while staying under the local radar.  It […]

  • great blue heron rookeries

    working together to provide sustainable breeding habitats By Jude Mead Great Blue Herons are a familiar sight in Norfolk and are one of the largest of all North American herons, standing up to four feet tall with a wingspan of close to six feet. They are most noticeable in flight as they soar across the […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    Tennis at Town Hall? The building we know as Town Hall was originally the Eldridge Gymnasium, built in 1892. Located within easy walking distance of hotels and boarding houses in Norfolk at the turn of the last century, the Gymnasium was a popular gathering place for both residents and visitors. People played croquet on the lawn […]

  • Looking Back Over the Years

    The End of an Era for Norfolk Now By Colleen Gundlach After 10 years and over 30 issues, Ruth Melville has put on her Norfolk Now editor’s hat for the last time. In June, the paper marked the end of an era with the publication of Ruth’s final issue as one of the executive editors […]

  • A Look Into Norfolk’s Past

    Exhibit Explores Pupin’s Haven of Happiness on Westside Road By Patricia Platt The Norfolk Historical Museum graces Norfolk’s village green with the reserve and understated elegance of a New Englander well worth getting to know. Visitors who step inside will find exhibits that tell the stories of the town’s past, often with intriguing ties to […]

  • Norfolk Past and Present

    The Summer Chapel Eases Gracefully Into Its 130 Years By Elizabeth Bailey Ayreslea Rowland Denny began attending services at The Church of the Transfiguration in Norfolk in 1939 on the eve of World War II. A New Yorker, she was a student at the Chapin School in New York City, but her family had been […]

  • Church Steeple Shines Once Again

    Local dignitaries and friends of Norfolk’s Church of Christ Congregational gathered on Saturday, May 25, to formally celebrate the completion of the steeple restoration project. The Rev. Erick Olsen thanked the community for supporting the years-long effort and welcomed everyone to enjoy a splendid cake featuring an image of the steeple.

  • Making the Native… Personal

    Cheryl Heller Builds a Wild Garden in Norfolk By Joe Kelly Gardens are best when they’re personal, argued the late Fred McGourty, who remains Norfolk’s best- known plantsmen. McGourty’s 1989 book, “The Perennial Gardener,” recounts the gardens he and his wife, Mary Ann, created at Hillside, their home near Dennis Hill State Park. Were he […]

  • This Old Norfolk House

    Stevens House By Joe KellyWhen our Puritan forebears arrived on these shores in the early 1600s, they were no doubt surprised todiscover how the traditional thatched roof cottages they knew from back home were no match for thewind and cold of a typical New England winter. But it would have likely surprised them even more […]

  • Can wildlife safely cross Norfolk’s Roads?

    By Shelley Harms Where are animals crossing Norfolk’s roads? Are they making it across? Is it possible to make theircrossings safer? Julia Rogers, Senior Land Protection Manager at the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), helped agroup of interested Norfolk residents explore these questions at a training session sponsored by theNorfolk Land Trust on March 22 at […]

  • Great Mountain Forest’s New Executive Director Returns to His Connecticut Roots

    By David Beers Mike Zarfos started his new position as executive director of Great Mountain Forest (GMF) at the end ofFebruary. It has been a lively time for Zarfos and his family; in addition to moving from Washington,D.C., to Connecticut, they are expecting a baby in April. Zarfos grew up in Deep River, Conn., where […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    In the late 19th century, the arrival of every train at the depot on Station Place was widely anticipated.There were freight trains, milk trains and passenger trains unloading throngs of summer visitors. Theattractive station pictured here was built in 1898, replacing an earlier modest structure. Constructed ofnative granite, it was designed by Hill & Turner, […]

Articles

Little Guild Animal Shelter Plans Major Renovation of Their Building

Capital campaign launching at the Great Country Mutt Show in June By Ruth Melville For over 60 years, the Little Guild has been taking in homeless cats and dogs and helpingthem find their “forever homes.” Located for 30 of those years in a 3,000-square-footbuilding in West Cornwall, the shelter is now planning a major renovation […]

Church’s Fellowship and Growth Team Eager to Help

Serving the Community By Jude MeadNavigating life post-pandemic has been a struggle for many, including Norfolk’s Church of Christ Congregational. Just before Covid-19 struck, the church had restructured its committees into what are now known as teams. Since the pandemic, church members have been searching for ways to better help serve the community. One group, […]

Grant-Funded Mental Health Professional to Join Botelle Staff

By Virginia Coleman-Prisco An $8.7 million U.S. Department of Education grant has been awarded to EdAdvance with thepurpose of increasing school-based mental health services over the next five years to 30 K-12schools in northwestern Connecticut. EdAdvance is one of Connecticut’s six RegionalEducational Service Centers (RESCs), and its mission is to promote the success of school […]

Norfolk Salutes its Volunteers

Spotlight on Norfolk Volunteer Ambulance Bill Brodnitzki We moved to Norfolk in 1971, and about a year after moving into town, my neighbor called over to me. “Bill can you go on an ambulance call?” I went! Things were different then. We referred to those days as “load and go.” No training was required, and […]

Coming Soon: The Great Barrington Triplex II

Community has come together to purchase a piece of history By Patricia PlattEarly in 1995, Richard Stanley bought a lumber yard in Great Barrington and built the Triplex Theater on its site. It quickly became a beloved community gathering place where, for 28 years, locals of all ages remember eating popcorn and watching Hollywood, independent […]

Benefit Concert for Humanitarian Aid

Teryn Kuzma, an accomplished vocalist and instrumentalist, held a benefit concert for humanitarian aid at Norfolk’s Botelle Chapel. She performed contemporary works, and uncommon Eastern European opera and art song. Kuzma accompanied herself on the 55-stringed Ukrainian bandura, a large harp-zither whose origins can be traced back to the 1600s in Ukraine.

Norfolk Rails to Trails Wins $400k Grant 

North Brook Trail to be Fully Accessible    By Andra Moss The third time was the charm for the Norfolk Rails to Trail (R2T) committee’s grant application to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Connecticut Recreational Trails Program. When the official announcement was made on May 15, Norfolk was one of only 50 communities […]

Norfolk in a Pickle

Pickleball in Norfolk: Bridge With a Racket By Janet Gokay Mead If you have access to any sort of media, you’ve probably read several articles about how pickleball is taking the country by storm. Well, for once, Norfolk was at the forefront of a cultural tsunami: a small group of players in town have been […]

Norfolk Housing Trends

A Hushed Market for Real Estate Transactions in Norfolk By Avice Meehan The British pop band Herman’s Hermits made it big in the U.S. in 1967 with a hit song called “A Kind of Hush” – and hushed is a good description of Norfolk’s real estate market this spring.  “There’s not much on the market,” […]

Icebox Cafe Plans Opening For Memorial Day Weekend

New Norfolk cafe will focus on food and community Text By Michael CobbPhoto Courtesy of The Crippen Family After more than 10 years owning and running Rex Cafe in Hell’s Kitchen and five years managing the iconic Mermaid Inn in Chelsea and Red Rooster in Harlem, New York City restaurateur Peter Crippen and his wife, […]

Questions Linger On Gas Spill Crash 

Could it have been prevented? Can it happen again? By Joe Kelly   The tanker truck that crashed last November on Route 44 in Norfolk didn’t just disgorge thousands of gallons of gasoline into the center of town, it also left behind lingering questions about the circumstances surrounding the accident and worries that it could happen […]

Biking to Norfolk with The Western New England Greenway

By Stephen Melville Norfolk residents driving to and from nearby destinations like Sand Road Animal Hospital, LaBonne’s Market or the Millerton Moviehouse may have noticed a new series of green-and-white signs along their route. These signs mark the Western New England Greenway (WNEG), also known as U.S Bicycle Route 7. This multi-part, multistate bike route […]