Tom Yannick, a local researcher, told a full house at the Simsbury Public Library that Pilfisher — sometimes spelled Pilforshire in historical sources — was never a formal town and that the image of a haunted, abandoned village overstates the historical record.

Yannick said documentary maps and petitions show Pilfisher was a triangular sliver of farm properties annexed to Simsbury in 1873 after 15 Canton residents petitioned the Connecticut General Assembly; 131 Canton residents later remonstrated against the change. He said that of 18 original houses in the area, only five remain standing today.

Yannick emphasized the practical reasons families left the area. “Pilfisher is simply an area of 15 farm properties that were originally part of the greater community of North Canton,” he said. He told the audience the combination of rocky, thin soil, small, stone-walled fields and the attraction of steadier industrial work in mills and factories made farming there increasingly unviable by the late 19th century.

Jane Spatcher McAlpine, executive director of the Simsbury Historical Society, opened the program and thanked the Simsbury Public Library and Simsbury Community Media for hosting and streaming the event. Barbara Strong, museum administrator and archivist, described how Yannick’s inquiry began when he visited the society’s archives. “Tom Janick wandered into my archives,” Strong said, noting his curiosity spurred further research.

Yannick walked listeners through maps from 1670 and 1873, pointing out a yellow triangular area that later shows up as part of Simsbury on the 1873 documents. He quoted an 1873 petition by Canton residents citing “the great distance and badness of public highway” and the inconvenience of attending town affairs in Canton as reasons for returning to Simsbury jurisdiction.

The presentation included a focused look at the Jonathan Latimer farmstead in the McLean Game Refuge. Yannick described the homestead’s cellar hole, stone walls and a cider mill that supplied cider and cider brandy for barter and local sale. He said Jonathan Latimer built his house after marrying in 1760 and that his son, Jonathan Jr., lived and died on the property; local probate and burial records were cited as sources for family details.

Yannick and Strong disputed specific later accounts that described Pilfisher as a village with a hotel and church, saying contemporary evidence does not support those claims. Yannick noted a 1945 Farmington Valley Herald article that repeated inaccuracies and a 1934 aerial photograph labeling the area “Pilfisher” but could not confirm when that label was first applied.

Audience members asked about stone walls, burial locations and roads. Yannick said the walls served both to mark property lines and contain livestock and reflected substantial manual labor to clear rock for fields. When asked what single factor drove people away, he replied it was the difficulty of farming the land combined with better economic opportunities elsewhere.

The Simsbury Land Trust will lead guided walks along the McLean Game Refuge Westledge Trail later this fall, Yannick said, and the Historical Society has literature and volunteer opportunities at a table in the meeting room. Yannick described the research as ongoing and invited attendees to share additional information after the program.

The presentation, including Q&A, was livestreamed and recorded by Simsbury Community Media for those who could not attend.