Interview and photography by Skip Rowland

Frank Vaughn, a chaplain with the Christian Motorcyclists Association, moved to Powhatan to farm chickens 15 years ago.  This is why he lives here.

Editor’s note: The following is part of a continuing series in which we ask residents to describe their connection to Powhatan County

FV:  I was a builder, you know, building houses, room additions, and all that stuff [in Toano, near Williamsburg, and] I was really looking to do something else. I came up here one day to hunt with my wife’s uncle (he has a farm on the James River); we was stopped for lunch and he was talking about Tyson expanding. So [we] kept talking and [I] started checking into it some more and I thought, “hmm, grow chickens…I could do that.” And here we are in Powhatan. This was the place.

We moved here mainly because of the nearness of the church, I’m a Mennonite, I go to Powhatan Mennonite Church. And it was in the chicken area. Those were the two things we really wanted that were important. We were looking in the Eastern Shore, but it didn’t look like home; we went to Harrisonburg, but it was rocks everywhere; but this area just looked like home. This is it.

I got three broiler houses, they each hold about 25,000 chickens, so we got 75,000 out there right now.  We keep ‘em about five and a half weeks.  Tyson brings us baby chicks just hatched, right out of the egg, not even a day old.  Some of ‘em even have egg shells stuck on their heads when we put them out. And we grow them and they come and take them and we got two, three weeks maybe between flocks and then they bring us more.  It’s a regular year-round thing. All I have to do is keep ‘em alive.

I miss the Tidewater, [but] we have grandchildren so I think for me to try to get my wife away from here would be like pullin’ up a stump by hand. I just don’t think it’s gonna happen. You have to be “flexible”— that’s a good word for it.

I just like the diversity of [Powhatan]. It’s close enough to Richmond, Farmville; anywhere I want to go, I can be there shortly. I like the farm area that’s still around here. I like my family being nearby. It feels comfortable to be here. There’s other counties of course; Amelia’s a beautiful county, Goochland, and Cumberland. A lot of counties around here look good, but Powhatan just seems like home.

In 2003 I think it is, we joined CMA which is a Christian Motorcyclists Association; we started going to their meetings, met a lot of nice people. My wife rides with me. We’re together 31 years, so we’re together with whatever we do—she works out there in them chicken houses. Our main goal is to try to reach the bikers that are looking for a change. Hopefully they want to turn to God and that’s why we’re there, sharing the gospel with these guys of how to get saved, how to know where they’re going to go when they die. I just like being a tool for God to use.

[Powhatan has changed in the past 15 years, ] I think.  My wife’s father has a sister and her and her husband were dairy farmers in Powhatan.  Of course you know, there’s not but one dairy farmer [left] in Powhatan. Our church probably had 10 dairy farmers in it and now there is only two and they’re not even in Powhatan County [any more].

Those in charge in Powhatan, the powers that be, I think they realize they don’t want it to be, to become like Midlothian, I guess, you know, they want to keep some rural part.  That’s good.