An Unexpected Journey
Living in the flat, developed, area of the Western Suburbs of Chicago I am always looking for new places to photograph to satisfy my roots in landscape photography. Thanks to a couple of my contacts' awesome photos of this location, I was itching to travel to photograph it. This place looks like it should be located somewhere in New England, or Europe or even the Shire in Middle Earth, but nope, this magical spot is nestled in the bluffs of Southwest Wisconsin, in Iowa County, just north of the small town of Barneveld.
Hyde's Mill is actually located in Hyde, WI, a town so small my GPS didn't even know it existed. As the sign on the side of the mill indicates, Hyde's Mill was built in 1850. It is a stone dam with a wooden waterwheel and mill house. The current wooden waterwheel is relatively new in comparison to the many stone wheels that were used in the past. I am still researching more about the history of the mill and will hopefully find more information to accompany one of my next posts.
Some of you might think I am crazy to drive 339 miles round trip for an hour window to get photos of this beautiful and serene spot but that is precisely what I did. I left work around 2pm from Wood Dale, IL and traveled up to Hyde, Wi, arriving in Barneveld around 4:15pm. I took County Road T, a beautiful little road meandering through the bluffs towards Mill Rd., where the mill resided. I could have stopped a hundred times on this road to get gorgeous autumn pictures, but the sun was fleeting and it also kept retreating behind clouds. I needed to focus all my efforts on getting sunlight on the mill itself. I did however stop quickly to get some photos of this gorgeous chapel near the mill, aptly named Hyde Chapel. It was just the most beautiful, simple, white painted church on top of a hill with a nice tree covered bluff in the background (I will post photos of the chapel later this week).
I then quickly proceeded on to my destination, the mill. The golden sunlight was absolutely fantastic, slightly diffused by a thin layer of clouds. I was fortunate enough that the owner of the property was there doing yard work and let me get a little "backstage pass" to the private areas of this land or the photo above would not have been possible without trespassing.
After about an hour of shooting in ever angle I could think of, I headed back to my home in Illinois. Quite a trip, but I definitely think the results were worth it. You can't get much more of a historic and serene setting for autumn photos than this.
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Matthew Crowley Photography
wooden waterwheel, hyde wi, hyde chapel, golden sunlight, stone wheels, serene spot, southwest wisconsin, landscape photography, stone dam, magical spot, iowa county, western suburbs, mill house, suburbs of chicago, middle earth, barneveld, mill rd, hundred times, shire, 2pm
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