Ledwidge Lumber Company Ltd.
Funding Silviculture Programs to Ensure Sustainability
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Ledwidge Lumber Company Ltd.Funding Silviculture Programs to Ensure Sustainability
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HistoryLedwidge Lumber is a family-owned business established in 1943 by Laurie Ledwidge. At the age of 18, Laurie first began with a shingle mill behind his father's home in Goffs, Halifax County. In 1946 he started a long lumber mill in the same location but it partly burnt, losing everything but the boiler and engine. In 1948 he rebuilt a portable mill with a gas engine and moved to Oldham. Laurie had 12-13 employees at the time. After being in Oldham for 4 years, Laurie moved his portable mill to Enfield, across the road from where the sawmill sits today. In 1958 he moved the mill to the woods in Georgefield where he had both the portable mill and a cookhouse, or as he refers to it - "The whole bit". In 1960, Laurie bought a new 6 cylinder diesel engine for the mill which "put lifeblood back into the mill". In 1962 he moved to Macphee's Corner and sawed there until 1964 when he moved to Enfield once again. That entire mill burnt to the ground in 1970 however Laurie rebuilt in 1972. In 1988 the rebuilt mill also burnt to the ground and Laurie once again rebuilt. Since the second rebuild in 1988, Ledwidge Lumber has been going strong. Through a lot of hard times and good faith, Ledwidge Lumber now supports three generations of the Ledwidge family and is constantly changing and growing. The Ledwidge Lumber sawmill today has a new planer facility, an efficient and environmentally-friendly dry kiln system that runs on wood shavings, a new HewSaw sawline and many other advances within the mill. It is a productive and stable operation producing over 74 million fbm of primarily 8' 2x3, 2x4, & 2x6 lumber products in 2006 alone. For more information on our products please click here. With new technology advances and the hard work of our many loyal and productive employees, Ledwidge Lumber is more efficient than its ever been. Although it has grown 100 times it's size since Laurie first began, it still remains a very family-oriented organization filled with tradition and basic values. The Ledwidge FamilyOn August 30th, 1950, Laurie married the love of his life, Ruth Blois. The wedding took place in a small church in the Gore, Hants County, where Ruth's family lived and worked on a farm. That same year, Laurie started to build the house they still live in today. During the first winter in their new home, all they had were two rooms with no cupboards or running water - just a well that they had to go out and dip a bucket in. In 1951, Ruth and Laurie had their first son, James Alfred Ledwidge. Two daughters, Colleen and Lynn, and another son, Douglas, would follow. From the time he was a toddler, James or "Jim" was interested in trucks and mechanics. When Jim was 18, he began hauling wood out of the woods for his father. Jim eventually started his own trucking company, Tree Line Trucking Ltd, which he still runs today. Jim married Rosalee from Kennetcook in 1972 and had three children: Kimberly, Kyle, and Cassie. As his father's sawmill operation grew, Jim took over as Woodlands Manager at Ledwidge Lumber in 1985. No longer hauling wood himself anymore, Jim hired a driver, Cyril Wilson, (who still drives for him today) and a broker to haul his trailers. Jim's son Kyle joined the business in 1994 to coordinate the heavy equipment and assist Jim in the Woodlands Operations. Jim's youngest daughter Cassie went to Mount Saint Vincent University and earned her Bachelor's Degree in Public Relations with Cooperative Education and became the Communications Coordinator for Ledwidge Lumber in 2005. After earning a Degree in Business Administration from Acadia University, Jim and Rose's oldest daughter Kimberly moved to Calgary where she worked in the Energy Sector for 10 years and earned her CA. In 2007, Kimberly moved home to Nova Scotia and joined the company as Financial Controller. Laurie's youngest son, Douglas, was also very involved with the family business from a young age: at the age of 18 he began working in the filing room of the sawmill. Always more interested in the mechanics of the sawmill rather than the woods, Doug and Jim fit together in the company with their father well. After a few years of working in and around the mill, Doug got involved in the management of the mill side of things and found his niche. Doug found a girl in Stewiacke with sawdust in her family blood via her Grandfather, he and Amanda were married in 2000. They have two children: Hannah and Luke. In 2001, Laurie officially handed over the reins of the business to his two sons, Douglas as President and General Manager, and Jim as Vice-President and Woodlands Manager. Laurie still plays a very important role in the business as Treasurer, and of course unofficially as a vital advisor. Three generations of the Ledwidge family continue to work together to keep the business alive and prosperous hopefully for many generations to come.
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Last modified: 06/04/08 |
