ZGRODNIK
Frank and Katie Zgrodnik started their farm c 1902.
Frank Zgrodnik emigrated from Poland with his brother Peter in the late 1800s, and they both landed in Hatfield around the turn of the century. Frank met and married his wife Katherine “Katie” (Sziegera) in 1902 and they began their family on South St., in Hatfield, where they raised their three sons (Joe, John and George). Around 1930, they purchased the Daniel White Wells house on Main St., continuing as tobacco growers.
Two sons of the next generation, George Jr. and Joe Jr., followed the farming tradition, though Joe Jr.’s father moved across the river to Hadley after the Hurricane of 1938 washed away a barn and killed many of the livestock. George Jr. farmed in Hatfield at the homestead, while Joe Jr. became an orthodontist and ran the Zgrodnik family farm in Hadley on the side. Joe’s son Jody followed in his Dad’s farming footsteps, until his death at age 47 in 2012. Back in Hatfield, George Jr.’s two sons, Greg and Jeff, started the Honey Pot Farm, growing tobacco along with a wide variety of vegetables and flowers. You can buy produce raised on their land directly from their farm stand at 44 Elm St. |
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