A publishing trio on local cultural history has produced a new book telling stories of Western Branch that would be largely unknown to the area’s suburban residents today.

“Truckin’ on the Western Branch: A Cultural History of Churchland, West Norfolk, and Bowers Hill” tells of the area’s agriculture, waterways and history, according to Phyllis Speidell and John H. Sheally II, both retired from The Virginian-Pilot, and Karla Smith, a retired schoolteacher.

Their previous works are “Peninsula in Passage,” covering the area bound east and west by the Nansemond River and the Suffolk-Chesapeake-Portsmouth boundary, and north and south by the James River and the Wilroy Road area, and “The River Binds Us,” about Crittenden, Eclipse and Hobson, as well as “Chuckatuck: Crossroads in Time.”

Sheally and Speidell also collaborated on a book about the paper mill in Franklin.

“John and I got involved, because we’ve known Karla a long time,” Speidell said.

Sheally said he and Speidell, upon first leaving newspapers, produced magazine stories. “Then magazines started going the same way as newspapers, and we got into hardback books.”

“Truckin’ on the Western Branch” derives its name from the truck farmers, which, Smith said, relied on barges and boats to transport their fresh fruits and vegetables to markets like New York and Baltimore.

The book starts with Chief Powhatan and native Indian inhabitants, tracking though the arrival of Europeans, colonial land grants, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the Civil War, the coming of railroads and annexation.

The latter involves how the cities fought in court to produce today’s boundaries. Portsmouth finally won its case in 1968, gaining West Norfolk, Craney Island and parts of Churchland and Western Branch.

There’s a history of Churchland’s various churches and the evolution of institutions of education. Notable residents are profiled, much of it in their own words.

Businesses and sporting personalities are recounted, including custom hydroplane builder Henry Lauterbach and footballer Roger Brown.

Speidell said the books started after Smith was interested in preserving the watermen heritage of Crittenden and Eclipse, out of which grew “The River Binds Us.”

“Every time we finish one, the people in the next community say ‘What about us?’” she said.

On the relevance of the latest book, which involved more than 250 interviews, Western Branch has “morphed into suburbia, especially in the past 20 to 25 years,” she said.

“People moving in have no clue where the (place) names come from.”

On Nov. 9, a crowd of about 250 attended a book launch at First Team Toyota on Western Branch Boulevard.

“Truckin’ on the Western Branch,” with proceeds supporting Suffolk River Heritage, is available for $40 from various local business and other organizations, including Bennett’s Creek Farm Market, 18th Century Merchant, A. Dodson’s and Bennetts’ Creek Pharmacy.

For more information or to order online, visit www.suffolk-river-heritage.org.