A dish of ice cream was a luxury for most of our grandparents or great grandparents. Prior to modern refrigerators there were ice boxes and ice houses for many families. In those days there were huge commercial ice houses that met the needs for shipping food. Ice harvesting was a worldwide business.   The ice was harvested during the winter and stored in buildings such as this.  Note the thick walls.  The space between the inner and outer walls was filled with sawdust as insulation.

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Check out the Big Smoke - 2006 in our gift shop for further information on Icehouses and Iceboxes.