Nestled in the Litchfield Hills, Norfolk is as picture-perfect a hamlet as one could possibly imagine. Because of the arrival of the Connecticut Western Railroad in 1871 (original station pictured) originating in Hartford and continuing west to Millerton in New York (ceasing operations in 1938), this region was opened up to the wealthy for Summer "cottages" (in the Berkshires parlance), where we can still witness extraordinary architecture, much of it attributable to Alfredo S.G. Taylor (New York firm Taylor & Levi). Most spectacular of the commercial buildings are Taylor's Romanesque Revival Royal Arcanum building (1904), adjacent to the arts-and-crafts style Village Hall (1888), now restored as Infinity Music Hall & Bistro, and the Norfolk Library (1888), a Romanesque Revival structure by George Keller. At the southern tip of the Village Green is Batell Fountain (see photo), carved in granite, designed by Stanford White with bronze-work attributed to Augustus Saint-Gaudens (www.norfolkct.org).
Mark Twain was a sometime summer visitor to Norfolk, and a stained glass window at the Church of the Transfiguration (Episcopal) commemorates his wife, Olivia Langdon Clemens.
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