Norfolk is well known as the site of the Yale Summer School of Music – Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, which hosts an annual chamber music concert series in "the Music Shed," a performance hall located on the Ellen Battell Stoeckel estate. This estate is magificently sited adjacent to the Village Green. The main house is known as "Whitehouse." Battell's wife was instrumental in establishing Norfolk as a "mini" Lenox for wealthy New York summer residents as a result of the Connecticut Western Railroad connection completed in 1871. The town of Norfolk owes much to the Battell family, which made a large fortune in the early 19th century from cheese, trading and speculation in Western lands. Notable members of this family include Joseph Battell, the merchant who founded the fortune and built Whitehouse; Robbins Battell, who was largely responsible for positioning Norfolk as a summer resort and Ellen Battell Stoeckel, whose charitable trust provides the campus for, and helps underwrite, the Yale Summer School of Music – Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (http://www.norfolkmusic.org/).
No comments:
Post a Comment