• Berkshire Store to Close, Another to Open

    By Avice Meehan Ryan Craig, who has operated the Berkshire Country Store for a decade, has announced that he will shutter the business on Oct. 31. The news was shared in a Facebook post on Sept. 23, prompting hundreds of comments and many mournful visits to the eatery and convenience store on Station Place. Craig, […]

  • Norfolk Scholar Marinates on Medieval Cookbook

    By Avice Meehan Anyone with a tattered copy of the “Moosewood Cookbook,” the bible of vegetarian cooking published some 50 years ago, understands that cookbooks are about more than recipes. They can signal political and cultural beliefs, social aspirations and more. So consider the significance of a cookbook published more than 600 years ago. It […]

  • Digital Navigators Set a Course for Norfolk Library

    Help offered for range of tech needs By Ann Havemeyer On Mondays, beginning in October, there will be a new face at the Norfolk Library. Jennifer Lutris is the new part-time “digital navigator,” one of two navigators shared among the seven Northwest Corner libraries (Norfolk, Canaan, Falls Village, Salisbury, Sharon, Cornwall and Kent). A digital […]

  • Norfolk’s WWII Combat Cameraman

    Daughter’s film on Walter Rosenblum shows the faces of war By Patricia Platt Longtime Norfolk resident Nina Rosenblum presented her award-winning documentary “They Fight With Cameras” to a full house at the Norfolk Library on Saturday, Sept. 26. The film tells the story of her father, decorated U.S. Army Signal Corps combat cameraman Walter Rosenblum. […]

  • Aging in Place

    Historic Church Ceiling Needs a Refresh By Avice Meehan After more than 200 years of good and faithful service to the congregation of Norfolk’s United Church of Christ, the soaring barrel vault ceiling of the Meeting House requires a major overhaul. The wood lathe and plaster ceiling, likely installed in 1813, has developed serious fault […]

  • A Wall That’s Also a Bridge to the Past

    By Andra Moss The rustic stone wall is a Connecticut icon. Historians estimate that most of the roughly 100,000 miles of stone walls that criss-cross the state were built between 1750 and 1850 by settlers clearing their fields. One Norfolk resident has recently added 65 feet of historic stone wall to the tally, but its […]

  • Engineer Gives Tobey Dam “Poor” Rating

    Owners will assess the 115-year-old structure By Avice Meehan Time and nature have taken their toll on a 1911 dam and spillway located at the western edge of Tobey Pond. The structures, which have withstood many significant weather events, received a “poor” rating in a recent inspection report required by the state Department of Energy […]

  • The Mindful Moments of Miranda Lee

    Interview by Jude Mead For the past four years, Miranda Lee has shared her yoga skills and yoga teaching tools with the broader community through Find That Pause, a free Saturday morning mindfulness program that began at the Norfolk Library and has since grown into a multi-library and hospital wellness program. For Lee, mindfulness isn’t […]

  • Botelle Beat

    Student Leadership From Bell to Bell By Lauren Valentino As principal of Botelle School, one of my greatest joys is watching our students grow into thoughtful, responsible and active leaders. Families, community members and visitors to our school often notice the dedication of our fantastic teachers and staff, but what they might not realize is […]

  • Signed, Sealed and Delivered

    Having left her mark indelibly on the Norfolk Post Office, Kathy Bascetta retired on Sept. 30 after 23 years with the Postal Service. A visit to the post office–the center point for most of the Norfolk community—will not be quite the same without her. Let neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night […]

  • There’s Much More Than Water in There

    Elementary school students from Norfolk, Barkhamsted, Colebrook and Hartland gathered on Sept. 25 at the Riverton Fair Grounds to learn about the history of the Farmington River and its role in shaping the regional environment. Here, Botelle students, including Daphne Rutolo, learned about the many insects and other creatures that call the river home.

  • Following the Fall Migration—One Birder’s View

    By Jude Mead Every fall, the skies become highways for millions of migrating birds, many of them traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles to reach their wintering grounds. From tiny warblers and sparrows to hawks, geese and nighthawks, birds rely on a remarkable combination of instinct, environmental cues and, in some species, experience to […]

Articles

Botelle Fine Tunes at Mid-Year

By Avice Meehan The Board of Education received a mid-year snapshot of student performance and growth from Botelle Principal Lauren Valentino at its Feb. 24 meeting as part of a packed agenda that also included reports on completion of elevator repairs and praise for the “Blizzard of Fun” program during Weekend in Norfolk. Staff and […]

Chance Comment Yields Historic Gown

By Avice Meehan It was a hot August day, nearly six years ago, when Barry Webber found himself inside a dumpster in Litchfield looking for something unexpected: An evening gown commissioned in the 1870s by a young Alice Eldridge from the House of Worth in Paris while she and her sister, Isabella, were on a […]

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Norfolk but Didn’t Know Where to Ask

By Colleen Gundlach There really is no longer any reason for Norfolk residents to not know how the town operates, who is on any given board or committee in town, or what was discussed and decided at such board and committee meetings. If you have a computer and internet access, the whole town is an […]

Choral Singing Meets Bluegrass

LCCU welcomes all ages to sing new styles By Andra Moss The Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) is entering its 127th concert year with decidedly youthful energy. Under the direction of Music Director Dr. Gabriel Löfvall, the LCCU will convene a youth choral festival in Norfolk in late spring; offer a series of choral seminars […]

The Celestial Sphere

March Skies and the Vernal Equinox By Matthew Johnson It has been an unusually cold winter, even by Norfolk standards. The constellations of Orion, and Canis Major, the great hunter and his dog, must have struggled during those frigid nights to rise in the east and traverse the southern meridian to set in the west […]

It’s Only Natural

Planting with Bare Root Stock is a Win-Win-Win By Susannah Wood While March can be cold and forbidding, the month officially kicks off spring and rouses us out of dormancy. Many of us start thinking about our yards and gardens in earnest. The Norfolk Nature Alliance is organizing a year-long effort to promote planting for […]

Norfolk Children’s Foundation is a Living Legacy of Dorothy Satherlie

Dorothy “Dottie” Jane Satherlie, a woman whose life spanned over a century of profound change and even more profound service, passed away peacefully at her home on Jan. 29, 2026. At 102 years old, Dottie leaves behind a legacy defined by her unwavering commitment to education, her deep-rooted faith, and a family that stretches across […]

Mike Case Lived Life to the Fullest

Edward “Mike” Case, Jr. passed away peacefully on Jan. 31, 2026, at the age of 75. Mike was the loving son of the late Edward Case, Sr. and Virginia (Jasmin) Case. Mike was born and raised in Colebrook. From a very young age Mike worked in the woods, logging with his father and at times […]

Norfolk Weather

January 2026: Deep Freeze By Russell Russ In recent years, winter did not get going weather-wise until January or even February. Although, that was not the case last year and it was certainly not the case this year. This winter it has been cold and snowy since early December. January was about average—for a normal […]

Norfolk Then

By Ann Havemeyer It was a busy afternoon at the General Electric plant in 1953. On the banks of the Blackberry River in a building that had been a 19th century stone mill, General Electric opened a branch in 1946 to make starters for fluorescent lights. Twelve Norfolk women were employed at first, but the […]

Remembering Jerry and DeVere Oakes

Jerry Oakes and his wife of nearly 72 years, Ellen DeVere Bechtold Oakes, passed away 10 days apart in August 2025, both at the age of 94. Born in Indiana and Hoosiers to the core, Jerry and DeVere lived in Norfolk for 21 years before moving to assisted living in Farmington in 2023. Jerry was […]

Norfolk Centenarian Was a Strong Advocate for Peace

Norfolk will remember Joanne Davis Hohmeister as a quiet but strong woman who was known for her kindness and compassion for family, friends and strangers alike. Joanne died Dec. 27, 2025, in Stamford, just a month after she enjoyed a celebration of her 100th birthday with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Born on Nov. 16, […]