The Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg is fully equipped with an ice house which was buried deep beneath the mound on which these stairs are built. It was well insulated and allowed for the collection of ice from ponds in the winter and stored for use all summer by palace guests.
6 comments:
Amazing the amount of work it took to keep a large house and household going...guess Florida had to ship ice down from the northeast or just plain do without!
Merry Christmas Darryl and Ruth! Interesting post: we take so much for granted today: imagine all the labour it took to run such a grand palace in days gone by. Greetings from Kenya. Jo
That is special such a ice-house. I have seen an identical one at the estate of our former Queen. People were very inventive in the old times.
I'm afraid they would be out of luck today. When was the last time lakes that far south froze thick enough to cut ice from? We have an old ice saw, but I believe the last time it could have been used here was around 1880. Jim
Human ingenuity never ceases to amaze me.
Have a great day.
Always, Queenie
Fascinating to see how early ice was 'harvested'.
Post a Comment