Author: Kathryn Boughton

Spirits were high at Botelle Elementary School Monday night as students ushered their families into classrooms during the annual Celebration of Learning, ready to “instruct” their parents in the skills they had been learning. 

The walls of the school were decorated with artwork created by the youngsters and the evening ended with a Spring Concert that showed off their musical skills.

“The kids are coming in and saying to their parents, ‘Follow me,’” said Principal Lauren Valentino with a smile. “They are so excited to show their parents what they have been learning. This has been a Botelle tradition for quite a while but this year we sent out individual invitations for people to come. We wanted to give the kids the opportunity to be the teachers.”

—Newsletter Editor

The Firehouse Building Committee has started getting deep into details about what the new firehouse might look like when completed.

“We’re in the process of looking at different finishes, interior floor plans and things that will be going into the final cost analysis,” said First Assistant Fire Chief Matt Ludwig. “We haven’t picked things like fixtures, wall coverings or floor coverings. Next month, we will look at the mechanicals. We have to bring all that to a company that will create a cost projection based on the design.”

During Monday’s meeting the committee saw a slide presentation by architect David Stein of preliminary sketches for the interior design. Stein is the principal of the firm Silver Petrucelli and presented the design concept that was taken to the Planning and Zoning Commission.

“It’s all very preliminary,” said Ludwig. “We will have another meeting in June when we’ll get a little more.”

The meetings are open to the public.

—Newsletter Editor

Handwritten invitations from Botelle Elementary School students went out this week for a Celebration of Learning to be held Monday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the school. 

While individual invitations were sent via the mail were sent to all families, town churches and local dignitaries, school Principal Lauren Valentino said the event is open to the entire community, especially the music concert that will be held at 6:30 p.m. There will be performances by each class, pre-kindergarten through Grade 6, as well as performances by the band and chorus.

Earlier in the evening, townspeople are encouraged to take a “Learning Journey,” exploring classrooms, visiting the Makerspace and enjoying the student’s art show.

—Newsletter Editor

When the Reverend Ammi Robbins persuaded his congregation to look for an architect to build “as good a house as you can for Six Thousand Dollars,” they voted to build it with a steeple. This was unusual for a northwestern Connecticut church in the Early Republic, historian Ann Havemeyer said. A cupola would have been more traditional at the time. 

Speaking to the crowd gathered this past Saturday for the dedication of the Church of Christ Congregational’s newly renovated and replaced steeple, Havemeyer explained that a “steeple was more visible. It functioned almost like a billboard, albeit a beautiful billboard….In Norfolk, a tall spire rising in the Green Woods, which people in more populated areas might have considered the backwoods, would be a sign of civility and refinement,” she said.

That beautiful beacon, erected in 1813, braved 211 severe Norfolk winters before it nearly succumbed to the ravages of time. It has been extensively restored since it was removed from the clock tower three-and-a-half years ago. A multi-year fundraising campaign brought in more than $575,000 toward the project and the church received a $200,000 State Historic Preservation Office grant.

Marie Civco, chairman of the church’s Raise the Steeple Committee, thanked all the volunteers and professionals who helped organize and support the restoration. Looking toward the future, the church is continuing its fundraising efforts to establish an endowment for the steeple’s future preservation.

—Newsletter Editor

Summer is special in Norfolk with a plethora of activities to choose from. Perhaps the events with the greatest hometown feel are the ever-popular Friday Nights on the Green, which resume June 7 and continue through August 30. All programs start at 6:00 p.m. and run until 8 o’clock.

The series kicks off with pizza and games sponsored by the Botelle PTO and the Norfolk Hub. Music that night will be by Lucy Morningstar. The following week the much-anticipated Pet Parade will be held, sponsored by the Norfolk Library. Blossom, a sweet-tempered bulldog who attended the Memorial Day parade Monday in her Tea Party t-shirt, told me she was very much looking forward to seeing all her friends there.

On June 21, there will be a Woodland Celebration hosted by Great Mountain Forest and the Conservation Commission with music by Aimee Van Dyne, followed on June 28 by Blooming Flowers presented by the Norfolk Community Association. Music will be by Mad River Music.

July 5 will bring a Community BBQ, hosted by the Norfolk Hub with music by Kettle Creek. The Norfolk Land Trust will bring Skyhunters in Flight to the green July 12 and another community barbecue hosted by the Hub will close out the month on July 26. This time, Andy Styles will provide the music.

August 2, Weekend in Norfolk returns and there will be an audience-inclusive drum circle on the green. Keep your appetite whetted for August 9 when Aton Forest will treat townsfolk to pizza and ice cream. The following Friday, National Iron Bank and the Lions Club plan to further satisfy gustatory desires with a third community barbecue. With Labor Day on the horizon, the programs close August 30 with an ice cream social sponsored by the Lions Club Ambulance service.

All programs are free. In case of rain, music will be performed at the Norfolk Hub.

—Newsletter Editor

It’s been a long journey, but on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. the Church of Christ Congregational will hold a town-wide celebration to mark the completed restoration of its 211-year-old steeple. 

Attendees will be invited to view the steeple, which underwent extensive restoration, and then to raise a glass and enjoy some cake at a reception inside Battell Chapel.

The sun is expected to smile on the event but in case of inclement weather it will be moved entirely inside the chapel.

“We’re so excited the steeple is back,” said Pastor Erick Olsen. “Everyone is over the moon. It’s the culmination of so much work, so much support, so much generosity, so many well wishes. It’s just an absolute joy!”

He added that during Saturday’s program, which will include comments by local dignitaries and members of the Steeple Committee, a commemorative plaque will be unveiled. People will also hear the steeple’s bells chime “for the first time in a long time.”

Designed in 1813 by master builder David Hoadley, the church—which was constructed on the same site as an earlier one built in 1760—includes an elegant steeple that rises from a square clock tower in two octagonal stages capped by balustrades and a tall spire. It bravely endured 206 years of exposure in a town dubbed the “Icebox of Connecticut” before restoration began.

By then, deterioration was so severe it was feared that a 45-mile-per-hour wind could send it toppling to the ground. Faced with this fact, the steeple was gently detached and lowered into a specially designed cradle beside the church just days before Christmas 2020. Last January, with the structural damage repaired, it was triumphantly hoisted back atop the sanctuary, where the final work was done under a protective shroud of plastic.

With a successful capital campaign behind it, the church even had enough money to repair the belfry clock and chimes, which play a melody written for them by Robbins Battell, a grandson of the Norfolk’s first pastor, Ammi Ruhamah Robbins.

—Newsletter Editor

First Selectman Matt Riiska was dotting I’s and crossing T’s this week as he put the finishing touches on some major projects.

He reported that the final paperwork has been completed on refinancing a $4 million loan taken out last year to pay for Maple Avenue’s reconstruction and replacement of Botelle School’s roof. The original loan was taken out at 5.87 percent interest and the refinance is costing only 3.46 percent. Riiska estimates the lower rate will save the town more than $1 million over the course of the 24-year loan.  

He said the reconstruction of Maple Avenue is moving rapidly to its conclusion after being delayed all last summer by cleanup efforts following the massive gas spill in November 2022. He anticipates final paving of the road will happen during the first week of June.

“There are a few things to touch up,” he said, “and the paperwork will go on for a while documenting which part of the work is connected to the gas spill.”

Testing and monitoring for any residual gas from the spill continues but last winter the Torrington Area Health District cleared the seven houses effected by the spill for occupancy. Most of those families have now returned to their homes, although one building remains unrented, and one is in foreclosure. 

Ironically, East River Energy, the firm whose truck overturned, spewing 8,200 gallons of gas over the landscape, was the successful low bidder this year for the consortium through which Norfolk receives its heating oil. “They’re still in business,” Riiska said. “Their driver screwed up and that’s why they pay high insurance premiums. But they treat us right and we’re getting an excellent price of $2.95 a gallon for our oil.”

—Newsletter Editor

The annual Norfolk Memorial Day Parade will be held Monday at 9 a.m., starting from the Norfolk Town Hall. The parade route goes from Town Hall to the village green, around the green and continues down Route 44 to Memorial Green. 

At Memorial Green there will be a reading of the names of deceased veterans.

Following the parade and ceremony, the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department will host an open house with free donuts and coffee.

At noon, the 45th annual Memorial Day 5-Mile Road Race, sponsored by the fire department, will begin on Westside Road and finish on the village green. Online registration can be made here through Saturday. There is no same-day registration.

Frankie’s Food Truck will be stationed on the village green.

—Newsletter Editor

There is a new threat to Connecticut forests as beech leaf disease spreads rapidly and Great Mountain Forest is playing a role in fighting it.

Plant pathologist Robert Marra, lead investigator with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, is using a plot in GMF as one of 11 stations in Connecticut to monitor the progression of the newly diagnosed disease, which was first identified in Ohio in 2012.

The Great Mountain Forest plot is one of two in Litchfield County. Trees there are measured annually to see how they have changed and what can be determined about regeneration. 

Dr. Marra appeared at the Norfolk Library last Sunday in a program sponsored by the Norfolk Conservation Commission. “By 2022, we realized we had big, big problem,” he said. “We were seeing a beech leaf disease Hell-scape and knew we are dealing with a disease that is not going away soon.”

Beech leaf disease causes mortality in saplings as well as mature beech trees, which Marra described as a foundational species in some forests. 

It has now been determined that an invasive nematode (a microscopic round worm) is responsible for the disease, which is spread when the nematode population burgeons in late summer and fall. The leaves fall into puddles and the nematodes exit through the leave’s stomata into the water, where they can be carried to other trees by insects, birds or mammals. 

Finding a cure is a long way off, but trees can be treated with phosphite products. Researchers have had encouraging results by drenching the soil around beech saplings with the products twice a year. Phosphites are inexpensive, do not need a certified applicator and do not harm other creatures.

Marra said phosphites reduce tree mortality, sustaining a large enough population for genetic diversity once a cure is found.

—Newsletter Editor

The Norfolk Land Trust is applying for a second renewal of its national accreditation, a hard-to-obtain badge of honor bestowed on land trusts that demonstrate that they protect the public interest with sound and sustainable land transactions and stewardship, operate ethically and are accountable to donors and the public.

Accreditation is a mark of excellence and helps to provide credibility to donors and grantors. The Norfolk Land Trust was originally accredited in 2013 when only six of the then 104 land trusts in the state had achieved the distinction

Public comments may be submitted through September 20 and must relate to how the Norfolk Land Trust complies with national quality standards (see full list here.) To submit a comment click here or email the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. 

The Norfolk Land Trust, created in 1982, protects more than 4,000 acres of open space through conservation easements and owned preserves and maintains more than 20 miles of trails, all of which are open to the public. 

—Newsletter Editor