The Bullitt Reservation

This is a tale of caring, commitment, and serendipity that created a storybook ending for 262 idyllic acres in a Pioneer Valley region hilltown.

It begins with Anne Bullitt, only child of Louise Bryant and William C. Bullitt, who served as ambassador to the Soviet Union and France in the 1930s. The 262 acres were part of the Bullitts’ summer estate in Ashfield where, as a child, Anne spent her days riding her horse and playing in the woods.

Enter Norman Walker, Anne’s Ashfield neighbor and sometime childhood companion. “She liked the place for its natural beauty,” says Walker. In spite of their childhood friendship, though, the two would never meet as adults.

Finally, enter Bob Pennoyer, who met Walker en route to a Swiss boarding school. Their lifelong bond was formed as college roommates and junior naval officers in World War II. Later, in New York City,Walker became a respected investment manager and Pennoyer built a distinguished career in law.

And Anne Bullitt? She became a well-known horse breeder in Ireland. She never lived in Ashfield again, but she never let her beloved estate go, cherishing a hope to retire there.

In 1983, as Bullitt was preparing her will, she was referred to an estate lawyer: Bob Pennoyer. She expressed her wish that her Ashfield property be permanently protected. When Bullitt fell ill in 2000, Pennoyer worked to ensure her wish was honored. He dialed his old friend Walker, now retired in Ashfield.Walker knew the land and he knew The Trustees, with whom he’d been volunteering for a decade, and, with the help of other volunteers, he began matchmaking right away: “I encouraged The Trustees to take the property when Anne died, and Bob, as executor, to give the endowment.”

Years would pass before the story found its happy ending, though. Bullitt remained gravely ill for nearly a decade. But Walker and Pennoyer’s commitments to honor her
wishes never wavered. They ensured the estate was cared for, stabilized the mansion, restored the nearby large barn, and protected the property with conservation restrictions.

When Bullitt passed away last year, 262 acres were given to The Trustees; the remaining buildings and 103 acres were sold to conservation-minded buyers. “I think Anne would be pleased,” says Walker. “She wanted to encourage conservation. Bob and I were just in the right place at the right time.”