• 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

New Arrest Warrants Issued in Curling Club Arson Case

Defendants charged with tampering with pump station valves By Lloyd Garrison There was supposed to be another hearing last week in Litchfield Superior Court to advance the case of the State vs. Mathew Carey and Kyle Majewski, but nothing went right for the two 19 year olds accused of multiple felonies that led to the […]

Lecture Offered on Conservation of Sandy Brook

An ambitious plan to protect the Sandy Brook watershed, a 17-mile expanse of land that crosses northeastern Norfolk as well as parts of Colebrook, Sandisfield, and other surrounding towns, is being spearheaded by Aton Forest. A broad coalition of land-preservation groups, municipalities, and landowners will be called on to bring this effort, known as the […]

Curling Club Starts to Rebuild

Fundraising Gears Up as Plans for New Curling House Go Out to Builders By Wiley Wood The rubble is gone. A long slab of concrete, painted with targets on either end and lying in a vacant lot on Golf Drive, is all that remains of the Norfolk Curling Club, which was torched by arsonists last […]

Colebrook-Norfolk School Merger Gets a Fresh Look

Joint Study Committee Holds First Meeting By Bob Bumcrot With primary-school enrollments projected to decline and per-student costs expected to rise over the next decade, a study committee has been formed to examine the possibility of a merger between the Norfolk and Colebrook schools. A first public meeting was held on April 10 at the […]

Stopping the Cycle of Abuse Through Communal Effort

Susan B. Anthony Project Serves Northwest Corner Towns By Colleen Gundlach When geese fly, their formation allows each individual member to be pulled along and uplifted by the drafts of air created by the bird flying in front. When a goose is sick or injured, other geese leave the formation to provide assistance. These simple […]

Norfolk Farmers Market Starts Season

Several New Vendors and Many Old Favorites By Wiley Wood There’s always a reason to go to the Norfolk Farmers Market on a Saturday when the sun is shining. It’s a place to walk a dog where it will be admired, to commission a copper weathervane or to buy a crusty loaf of sourdough and […]

Lily Bernstein Wins National Writing Award

Norfolk resident Lily Bernstein, a sixth-grader at Botelle, entered a national essay contest this winter at the urging of her homeroom teacher, Kim DeDominicis. More than 1900 other students from around the country joined the competition, which is sponsored annually by the BIC Corporation. Bernstein won a runner-up prize. For her 200-word essay, she will […]

Robotics Team Travels to International Championship

Northwest Regional’s Gearheads Win Major Award By Joel Howard Winning is as much a journey as it is an end objective, as the Gearheads have learned over the past four months. Just three month ago, Northwest Regional High School’s robotics team was meeting after school almost every day to get their new club organized and […]

Spring Turkey Season in Progress

Hikers on or near state hunting lands should consider that the 2012 Connecticut spring wild turkey season, which started on April 25, continues through May 26. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection advises hunters to avoid the colors red, white, and blue when walking in the turkey woods, as these colors are associated with […]

Dancer and Choreographer Brings Her Love of Movement to Norfolk

Moving to Music By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo In two short years, professionally trained dancer Kristin Mudge has taken Norfolk by storm. Donating her time and energy to a myriad of groups and endeavors in Norfolk and the surrounding area, Mudge’s most recent undertaking was choreographing the Northwestern Regional Seven High School musical, “Chicago.” A member […]

Maple Syrup Season Is Fast Out of the Starting Blocks

Early Preparations Pay Off This Year By Wiley Wood Sap flow in Norfolk’s sugar maples started three to four weeks early this year. Syrup producers who caught the early, unexpected flow had a good season. “We tapped our trees in January and started collecting in early February,” says Jude Mead, of Mead’s Maple Syrup, “the […]

Whitehouse Roof Restoration Underway

Driving through the center of town you have probably noticed the scaffolding and construction materials around Whitehouse across from the Norfolk Green. Workmen will be replacing the roof and restoring masonry around the chimneys and cornices. Construction is expected to continue into September 2012. Whitehouse was home to the Battell family from approximately 1800 until […]