Tom Yanik
Tom has lived in Simsbury CT for nearly 30 years but only recently became aware of “The lost village of Pilfershire Simsbury”. What lost village …here in Simsbury? He discovered Jeff Bush’s “The Homes of Pilfershire” from 2012 and decided to take a shot at emailing him. The next day Tom received a response from Jeff and a new collaborative Pilfershire of Simsbury project was soon formed. Tom has gone birding on Westledge Road and Trail every Spring for 25+ years. This project brings him back there with a fresh purpose and a whole new appreciation! Tom grew up in Fairfield CT surrounded by colonial history – in fact, the Fairfield town green has the Sun Tavern where George Washington, literally, slept during the American Revolution. Now that he is retired, Tom is enjoying revisiting colonial New England history more thoroughly with Pilfershire.
Dave Jackson
Dave is recently retired, so he is enjoying the freedom of dedicating his time and energy to the Pilfershire Project. He loves making personal connections while exploring historical connections … to everything! When he’s not exploring Pilfershire, Dave enjoys collecting all things 1950’s and 60’s, landscaping and gardening, and reading biographical histories – including recently: John J. Audubon, Fredrick Olmstead, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Calvin Coolidge.
Jeff Bush
Jeff’s family moved to Highridge Road in West Simsbury, just a few hundred yards from the Pilfershire foundations, in 1960 when he was 13 years old. Almost immediately he remembers “discovering” them and wondering about them. He grew up in the woods of the McLean Game Refuge and the surrounding area, and although moving to New York City in 1965 returned constantly to spend time in them. In 2010 he began volunteering with the Simsbury Land Trust as a co-Steward of the Cathles Land trust property, and assisted in its mapping. He later went on to assist with the Tuller Woodlot mapping and the Glover parcel mapping on Bloomfield mountain. It was thanks to Fred Feibel, past President of the Land Trust, that he first became aware of the Lure of the Litchfield Hills articles which form the gateway of what we know about Pilfershire. Jeff lives now in Manhattan and Long Island but gets to Simsbury as often as he can.
Here out on the Cathles property (on the right) with Dick Davis, past President of the Land Trust.
