Truckin' on the Western Branch

in 1937. There were higher bidders at the auction, but Judge Coleman awarded him the house and 25 acres because it was his homeplace.

I wanted to be a farmer—but economics changed my mind. I sold 21 acres to a developer and now we’re hemmed in by new houses—tears my heart out. We have 3½ acres left, and I’m a salesman at Hampton Chevrolet.

Momma, Phyllis Ferguson, grew up in Sweetbriar on a dairy farm on the point. She donated land for St. Christopher’s Church. That’s why Reese Drive and Leslie Drive are named that.

We had 13 acres at the house and raised soybeans and wheat. We had sheep, chickens, and horses. We sold wood in the winters and had a saw that ran off the tractor. In the summertime I worked for Bill Lewis on his farm.

There was a farm nearby called Fox Hall—that’s why the school on Taylor Road was called Fox Hall. The school building used to be Marshall’s dairy.

The Churchland community was about relationships. You knew your neighbors and the community knew what was going on. When there was a death, sickness, or layoff, there was an outpouring of help. You kept up with people, would see them at the store and post office and blacksmith. A.W. Johnson’s, the Post Office and the blacksmith were central to the community. In the mid-1960s the Plaza movie theater, the Purple Possum, Irwins pharmacy, Central Shoe Repair, and Giant Open Air replaced the blacksmith shop. There was a family named Crozier who gave their name to Crozierville—it was not a pejorative Jim Crow name. Then it was changed to Ebony Heights. Ray’s store was in St. Mt. Claire, a black community further down Taylor Road.

I went to Western Branch High. When they drew the new lines, we were in Chesapeake.

William Bruce Speers If there were a vote for Churchland’s most legendary figure, Bruce Speers could win hands down. The Bruce stories seem infinite, and each one points to the charisma that drew people to him. Speers, a lifelong resident, died on March 3, 2014, at the age of 99, but the stories live on.

Reese and Alisa Johnson. Image by Sheally

One day Johnny Ellis went to the Speers house and could not find him, inside or out, but heard Speers calling to him. Finally Ellis looked up into a tall pine and found him trimming branches. Ellis called up, “Bruce, can you get down from there?” Speers answered, “I don’t know, I haven’t tried yet.”

Jimmy Hawks remembered Speers falling off a tractor.

“The tractor ran over his head, a pretty serious injury,” Hawks said. “But he got up and put the tractor away before he went to the hospital for four days.”

“No one knew hunting like Bruce Speers,” Jimmy Lilley said.

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