Norfolk Academy

The Academy Building on Norfolk Green has served a variety of purposes since its construction in 1840. It was built in response to the growing need for school space in the rural community. A school was established in Norfolk as early as 1768. Initially students were taught in the church parsonage but in 1819 the School Society raised a small structure that was used as a school and church conference room.

The success of teacher John F. Norton was so notable that by 1838 there were more than 70 pupils under his tutelage. In 1839 an Academy Corporation was formed to build a new structure and in 1840 the building was erected on the east side of the green for $2,000. After 1846, the first floor of the Academy was pressed into duty as a site for Town Hall and the basement became the town lock-up. Today the historic building serves an appropriately historic purpose as the headquarters and museum of the Norfolk Historical Society.