In the 21st Century we may think of ice as something that comes out of the doors of our refrigerator or a nice skating surface in an indoor rink, but, in the 18th and early 19th centuries the ice business produced a very necessary product and employed many people.
See: “Ice Harvesting Sampler” DVD, produced by Northeast Historic Film, Black & White, NTSC, 33 minutes - 1994. This “compilation of newsreel and amateur footage of ice harvesting operations in Maine includes ice-house interiors with massive ice blocks being maneuvered at high speed, and horse teams delivering ice to brownstones in Boston.”
“America’s Icemen: An Illustrative History of the United States Natural Ice Industry 1665-1925” by Joseph C. Jones Jr., published by Jobeco Books, 1984.
“The American Ice Harvests: A Historical Study in Technology, 1800-1918” by Richard O. Cummings, published by the University of Calfornia Press, 1949.
