Roy Snyder
“We moved here in 1956 because it was everything we needed: the soil was the right kind, the price was right, a fertilizer company and a tractor place were nearby, and it was not far from town. It felt like we were going back in time: it was quiet and peaceful, no traffic, and the people were nice. In the beginning, just about everything was done by hand. Water was pumped to the fields by aluminum pipes which had to be moved by hand every two hours. Corn, tomatoes, and cantaloupes were picked by hand. Later on, irrigation and harvesting were mechanized, and what once took eight men to do. was done by just one. We retired from farming in 1990 with no regrets at all.”
Interviewed by Jonathan Chace and photographed by Ken Young
Editor Note: The Chestertown Spy and RiverArts have partnered in 2016 to share the art organization’s community arts project “Humans of Kent County,” designed to celebrate the wonderful, unique folks who live and work in Kent County. Citizens are invited to interview and photograph from young to old from all corners of the county and to submit a photograph and brief story to be part of the project. It will be posted on the Spy each week and each quarter the most interesting photos and stories will be enlarged and produced for an exhibition at the RiverArts gallery in Chestertown.
John Hudson says
I worked for Roy for five summers. I learned and had lots of wonderful experiences. The Snyder’s (Roy & Barbara) have always been very good to me. And I have always considered Jim, Dick, Ann and Bill lifelong friends. Even though we’ve all grown up and are doing different things. What an amazing wonderful family. Thank you! ? Johnny Roe
Bradford Johnson says
Roy was my employer for two summers when I was 15 and 16 years old. He hired all local kids to work on his produce farm, both boys and girls mostly between the ages of 14-21. We would show up for work at 2am in the morning and load the dozens semi-trucks lined down the road to the loading shed with fresh picked sweet corn, tomatoes and cantaloupes. There were typically 15-20 kids all working 10 hour days from 2am till noon. In the pre-dawn hours we worked in teams loading the trucks by hand. After the trucks were all loaded, they usually had to deliver their produce to the markets in Phila, Balt, Annapolis, by the opening of their markets at 9am, we spent the rest of the morning picking tomatoes and cantaloupes for the next days shipments. The corn was picked fresh the morning/day of shipping.
Roy’s two younger children worked with us, Dick, and Ann, his older two had moved on as they were in college. The children of families and friends who worked for Roy included the Motter brothers, the entire Bozarth brood of kids, Johny Roe Hudson, Brian Kane, Billy Norris, and a few whose names I can’t remember.
Roy paid us a good wage of $3/hour and the old hand “managers” like Johny Roe I think made $4.50/hr. After work many of us who lived near Chestertown would descend on the Ye Olde Coffee Shop for burgers and milkshakes for lunch. Our afternoons were spent swimming or maybe water skiing, also many of us played summer league lacrosse on the local teams. In those days Chestertown alone fielded 8 local lax squads for the summer league.
Roy’s brother John, owned one half of the farm and had a totally seperate and competing produce business under the same building roof. John hired almost all migrant Latino workers. besides the rare corn fight everyone got along fine.
I still see Roy around town and we always stop and catch up. He is a wonderful community oriented gentleman.
Times may have changed but his smile and warm character certainly haven’t…