Truckin' on the Western Branch

In his book, Sunray: the History of Sunray Colony , he explained that the Franklin Land and Lumber Company had harvested much of the timber from Bowers Hill by the early 1900s, leaving a swampy stretch of land dotted with massive cypress trunks. Joseph Janusz, a company engineer and a Polish immigrant, recognized the appeal of rich, dark soil to other immigrating Poles who believed that land ownership was the key to family stability. The lumber company listened and plotted 241 ten-acre farms; Janusz targeted Polish immigrants, luring them with samples of the fertile soil. Many of the prospective buyers turned back when they saw the flooded acreage and muddy roads. But more than two dozen stayed—the Jawadas, Szymanskis, Dragons, Zydrons, Biernots, Jaskoiwiacks, Dubziks, Wysockis, Madusias, Kowalskas, Skrobiszewskis, Kryjaks, and more. They built houses, dug ditches, and cultivated the soil, forming the nucleus of a strong, ethnic community.

Szymanski said about half of the original families still live in Sunray .

Dad was the baby of nine kids, and each got a piece of the family property. The soil is dark black and holds moisture, so we grew a lot of cucumbers and

trucked them to a large pickle factory in South Norfolk. We also planted potatoes by hand, digging with a mule and plow or a small tractor. Forty or fifty bushels lasted two families for a year. Dad was a truck driver and used to leave a list on the fridge of what my brother and I had to do each day. We got five cents a quart for picking strawberries when I got off the school bus. In corn season (we raised Seneca Chief and Silver Queen) we’d start at 5 a.m. and pick 2,000 ears by 10 a.m. I pushed the wheelbarrow while my mother picked.

Moonshine and homemade wine were also a customary part of life in Bowers Hill, Szymanski said, adding that two of his uncles were in the business. As he remembers the last still was confiscated in Chesapeake in 1976.

Scheryl Chadwick and Gary Szymanski. Image by Sheally

Charlotte Rohlf said both sides of her family came from Poland. Family lore claims that her grandfather Joe Biernot was a stowaway. The Biernots reclaimed the soil from the forest, she said, and raised cows, bootlegged a little, and opened the Moonlight Room beer and dance hall with country music on Indiana Avenue.

Charlotte Rohlf. Image by Sheally

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