By Clark Judge
(April 22, 2026) — For the second time in the past seven months, the Killingworth Land Conservation Trust (KLCT) has made a significant acquisition, this time adding nearly forty acres of land that border Route 80 between Killingworth and Madison. However, unlike last October’s 27.3-acre addition, the KLCT wasn’t asked to write a check to close the deal. All it had to do was accept a gift.
Then, thank Connie Perkins.
It was she who donated the property on behalf of her extended Perkins and Aresco family in memory of her late husband, Sheridan “Dan” Perkins, who passed away in January, 2024, at the age of 82. The transaction, which involves two tracts of land at the corner of Chestnut Hill and Route 80, ensures that the property will be protected forever … just as her husband had hoped.
“The land,” the family said in a prepared statement, “is approximately 60 percent of the farm that Dan grew up on and was once owned by his parents, Albert Leslie and Etta (Bruggemann) Perkins. The family farm had been called Sunshine Ridge. The donated land will now be known as Perkins Ridge.”
Perfect.
“My father always wanted it to be protected,” said John Perkins, Dan’s 61-year-old son who resides in Massachusetts. “The land was special to him, and he didn’t want it built on. So, after he passed away, (Connie Perkins) decided to honor him by donating the property to the Land Trust, which he was familiar with and had spoken to on occasion.
“Basically, it was my stepmother’s way of making good on my father’s wishes that it be protected. He was always involved with all things Killingworth, so it made sense.”
A lifelong resident of Killingworth, Perkins was an active community volunteer for more than sixty years. He was a founding member of the Killingworth Ambulance Association (photo above, Dan Perkins, center, with KAA founding members Don McDougall, left, and Charlie Smith, right) and he served as a volunteer for the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Department, Historical Society, Lions Club and town library.
But it was his years growing up on his family’s farm where he helped with chores (including milking cows, haying fields and caring for animals) that he cherished. He looked after his favorite dog, Tippy, showed livestock at local 4-H fairs and, as a teenager, worked at Cowboy Valley, where he simulated robbing a stagecoach and bank.
But on occasion he also helped his father, known as Leslie, operate his Mobil gas station next to the family farm on Route 80 (photo above). “The gas station was put in before I-95 went in,” said his son, John, “so Route 80 was one of the main east-west roads before the interstate was built. I heard at one point that there were eight gas stations in Killingworth, though I don’t know their exact locations. What I do know is that my grandfather’s station was a landmark. Everyone knew of it.”
The station closed shortly before Leslie Perkins passed away in 1984 a month after his 90th birthday. Appropriately, the main trailhead for Perkins Ridge will be located on a site once occupied by the station where a gravel U-turn is all that remains today.
“Three generations of Perkins lived on that land,” said John Perkins. “My grandfather and grandmother bought it, with a homestead on it. My father grew up there and built a house on the property where our family lived. I know my brother Chris, stepbrother Tony Aresco and I are all proud of Connie’s donation to the Land Trust, honoring my Dad’s wishes to add to the preserved land in Killingworth.”
Both Chris and John Perkins are expected to join members of the KLCT’s board of directors next month as they walk the property’s borders, identifying its edges prior to establishing public trails.
The acquisition marks the KLCT’s fourth in the past three years and, according to president Andy Annino, expands its protected properties to an estimated 1,200-plus acres … or, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, roughly five percent of Killingworth’s dry land. It’s the first significant step by the KLCT since its 27-acre purchase last fall that connected Parmelee Farm to Welter Woods, a move that created a contiguous 300-acre greenway in the center of town.
However, that step cost the KLCT an undisclosed amount, assisted by a $35,000 grant awarded by the Connecticut Land Conservation Council. This acquisition cost it nothing. Instead, it’s a generous donation to honor the memory of one of Killingworth’s favorite sons and protect the land he loved.
“This is a beautiful gift of land to the Killingworth Land Trust,” said Annino, “and we are grateful. The Perkins family has a vision of preserving and protecting open space and preserving the rural character of the town. It’s a win-win for the entire community of Killingworth.”
Gas Station photo provided by John Perkins
Photo of KAA by Clark Judge
