Truckin' on the Western Branch

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Introduction

Children laughing, church bells pealing, and whistles screaming quitting time.

Tractors chugging, horses trotting and sea gulls crying overhead.

Ball fans cheering, hunters firing and speedboats skimming by.

The anthem of a time and place held close in the hearts of those who lived them or heard the stories over the Sunday dinner table.

Churchland, Western Branch, Bower’s Hill, and West Norfolk, once along the eastern edges of old Norfolk County, share the rich history of a truck farming, waterfront community. We know it is the heart and humanity in history that create heritage. That heritage, threatened by past annexations and continuing development, deserves to be preserved and treasured, as do its lessons for the present and future.

Truckin’ on the Western Branch brings together the documented history of the community with the memories, stories and photos of more than a hundred storytellers, some of those who knew it best. We hope you will enjoy their recollections and lore, the music of their lives.

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Phyllis Speidell John H. Sheally II Karla Smith

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Bob Armistead Orchestra, The Starlighters with Nat Howell on sax.

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