Have you noticed that the historic directional sign on the northwest corner of the Village Green is missing? The sign was removed and refurbished this summer by artist Madeline Falk and is now awaiting improvements to the frame and the posts that support it, said First Selectman Matt Riiska.
“Madeline’s work is done, and we received the sign back three or four weeks ago,” Riiska said. “Now we are talking with a local contractor about how to install it. It needs a couple of things—bracketing and better poles. It also needs to be sealed better.”
Currently, round posts support two rectangular panels set at a 90-degree angle to one another. In addition to giving the mileage to nearby communities, the panels bear the likenesses of a jackrabbit and a stag. An early photo of it from 1917 shows it in place on the village green with a soaring elm tree close behind it.
The decorative painting was originally done in the 19th century by an unknown artist and was replicated in 1965 by Raymond Dowden, then the director of the Yale summer school of art at Norfolk. The original is in the Norfolk Historical Society’s collection.
Riiska said the sign is vulnerable to motorists and has had to be restored more than once. “That thing has been hit so many times,” he said. Granite pillars now form a protective triangle in front of it.
The sign, which is removed from its site every winter to protect it, will not be put back in place until next spring.