This engagement session was incredibly close to my heart – it featured some of my favourite images with two truly beautiful humans, Lucas and Heidi. You’ve probably seen me working with Lucas from time to time – he’s an amazing videographer here in Guelph. We met in 2015 shooting the craziest and coldest shoot ever at The Goldie Mill Ruins. We returned, when things were warmer, years later for his engagement session with Heidi.
We started with a little snuggle session in their new apartment downtown next to With The Grain Bakery and Park Grocery with their videographers John and Megan from Bonsai Creative. When the sun was starting to set, we walked down the street to Goldie Mill.
The former Goldie Mill site is one of the most historic manufacturing locations in Guelph. In 1827, David Gilkinson (cousin of Guelph’s founder), built a sawmill beside the Speed River. In 1845, doctors built the ‘Wellington Mills.’ After a fire in 1850, the mills were rebuilt in stone and named the ‘People’s Mills.’ After another fire in 1864, the land was purchased by a man named James Goldie, but ended up enlarging and rebuilding it in 1866. James Goldie was considered on of the leading flour manufacturers and dealers in Ontario, and actually served as the president of the Ontario Millers’ Association. The flour mills were sold in 1918, until a spring flood in 1929 and a fire in 1953 completely destroyed the building. Now, the ruins are maintained by the Grand River Conservation Authority.
Goldie Mill is located at 70 Norwich Street East, Guelph, Ontario, Canada – in Goldie Mill Park at the northeast corner of Cardigan and Norwich street and on the West Bank of the Speed River. The three-storey limestone building, now a ruin, was constructed in 1866.
