January 28-29, 2012- Old-Fashioned Ice Harvesting at Old Sturbridge Village

Harvesting ice 1830s style

Nineteenth-century magic show

Old-Fashioned Ice Harvesting at Old Sturbridge Village Jan. 28-29

“Fire & Ice” celebration salutes legacy of New England’s “Ice King”

Kids get free admission in January; sledding, skating and sleigh rides offered

(Sturbridge, MA)  January 7, 2012 — Historians at Old Sturbridge Village will demonstrate harvesting ice, which was a cash “crop” in early New England, on Saturday and Sunday Jan. 28-29, during the museum’s annual winter “Fire & Ice” celebration. The Village is also offering free admission for children through Jan. 31 for kids age 17 and under (a $7 value per child; the offer does not apply to educational groups of 10 or more). Visitors can take turns cutting ice with vintage tools and enjoy sleigh rides, sledding, and ice skating (all weather permitting). Activities are free with museum admission, and guests can warm up indoors with hot cider and enjoy fireside songs and stories, a 19th-century style magic show with Bob Olson, and the museum’s indoor “Kidstory” children’s play area. Details: 1-800-SEE-1830, www.osv.org.

Museum historians will tell the story of New England’s “Ice King,” Frederic Tudor (1783-1864), who created the ice industry in the early 1800s, and grew wealthy shipping ice from area ponds to locations around the world in the days before mechanical refrigeration. The frozen ponds of New England supplied ice to Havana, Savannah, the Caribbean, Calcutta, and beyond.

“We may curse winter ice today, but early New Englanders hoped and prayed for cold, icy winters because ice was a profitable crop -- one that required hard work in harvesting, but didn’t require planting and fertilizing.” notes historian Tom Kelleher, curator of mechanical trades at Old Sturbridge Village. “With farm fields covered with snow and mill races frozen, ice harvesting was a great way for young men in New England to earn extra money.”

Two recent books mention Frederic Tudor and describe the fascinating story of how New England ice became a London sensation preferred by Queen Victoria, and how it revolutionized the food industry the world over. The bestseller At Home: A Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson, and The Frozen Water Trade: A True Story, by Gavin Weightman, both recount Tudor’s ingenuity and tenacity in turning his vision into a world-wide phenomenon.

Ice harvesting historian Dennis Picard and OSV interpreters will cut ice using many of the tools and techniques developed in the 1820s by Tudor’s assistant, Nathaniel Wyeth, including an ice plough for marking and scoring the ice, saws designed just for cutting ice, specialized pike poles to move blocks of ice easily through open channels in the pond, and various styles of tongs to efficiently lift and drag chunks of ice.

“Lake ice was a marvelous product.  It created itself at no cost to the producer, was clean, renewable, and infinite in supply,” notes author Bryson. “The only drawbacks were there was no infrastructure to produce and store it, and no market to sell it to.”

That’s where Frederic Tudor came in. In 1805, he realized that rich people in hot places would pay a lot for ice. After figuring out how to harvest, store, and ship vast quantities of New England ice, he set about creating markets for it.  In Cuba, he built insulated ice houses and then offered people cool drinks as a novelty, hoping it would catch on.

Ice was shipped from ponds around Boston: Fresh Pond, Spy Pond, Jamaica Pond, Walden Pond, and from more rural areas as well. Ice from the Wenham Lake Ice Company in Massachusetts became so famous for its purity that it was favored by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Buckingham Palace.

According to Bryson, in the summer of 1844, the Wenham Lake Ice Company displayed a giant block of ice in a London shop window, causing a sensation among Londoners who had never seen such a thing – especially in the summer. To demonstrate its clarity, the company propped a newspaper behind the ice so spectators could read the paper right through the ice.  And to capitalize on the fame of the Wenham brand, Norwegians actually changed the name of Lake Oppegaard, near Oslo, to Lake Wenham!

As large as the overseas market for New England ice became, it was in America where ice really revolutionized things. “Not only did it provide a summer treat, it also allowed farmers to cool cream, make profitable butter, and carry milk to the cities – even in the heat of summer,” Kelleher notes. “For the first time, the average person could afford the taste of ice cream on special occasions, or a cold drink on a hot day.”

“Americans appreciated ice as no people had before,” writes Bryson. “They used it to chill beer and wine, to make delectable icy cocktails, to soothe fevers, and to create a vast range of frozen treats. . .  and grew immensely proud of the civilizing conveniences of ice.”

The explosion of the ice industry gave rise to refrigerated railway cars, which made it possible to ship perishable food from coast to coast. No longer did fresh food have to be consumed where it was produced. Chicago became the hub of the railway industry; farmers in the Midwest could produce food cheaply and in vast quantities and they could ship it to market almost anywhere. And it all started with a New England entrepreneur’s vision.

As for Frederic Tudor, the ice industry wasn’t the only business venture that interested him. He invested part of his ice fortune in a graphite (lead) mine in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.  His agent in that enterprise was Colonel David Wight, who owned the land that is now Old Sturbridge Village. And when Tudor came to Sturbridge to check on his mine, he stayed at Bullard’s Hotel, which is now the Publick House.

Old Sturbridge Village celebrates New England life in the 1830s and is open year-round, but hours change seasonally.  Winter hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wed. – Sun., and the Village is open for all Monday holidays and open daily during school vacation weeks. Admission: $20; seniors $18; children 3-17, $7; children under 3, free. Each admission includes a free second-day visit within 10 days. OSV is located just off the Massachusetts Turnpike and Routes I-84 and 20 in Sturbridge, Mass. For details: www.osv.org or call 1-800-SEE-1830.

Sidebar:

Did you know?

• If insulated, ice could survive the 16,000-mile, 130-day trip from Boston to Bombay.
• Chicagoans saw their first lobster in 1842, shipped from the East Coast.
• The first shipment of ice to England melted because customs officials couldn’t decide how to classify the 300-ton cargo of ice.
• Ship owners were at first reluctant to carry ice for fear it would melt in the holds of the ships and endanger them.
• Sawdust, previously a worthless byproduct of sawmills, proved to be an excellent insulator for ice, and provided extra income for lumber mills.
• Before ice:

o        In the heat of summer, milk would keep for only an hour or two before it began to spoil, and fresh meat wouldn’t keep much longer than a day

o        A chicken had to be cooked the day it was plucked

• The story of Frederic Tudor, Boston’s “Ice King” who created the ice industry, was presented at the Harvard Business School in the 1930s as a model of the classic entrepreneur; someone who is determined, takes risk, fails, tries again and succeeds.

Excerpted from At Home: A Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson

# # #

Upcoming events at Old Sturbridge Village:

Antique Sleigh Rally Feb. 4, 2012

See horse-drawn sleighs in action at a genuine old-fashioned horse-drawn Sleigh Rally at Old Sturbridge Village. Antique sleighs will include Portland and Albany cutters and bobsleighs drawn by a variety of horses from Morgans to miniature breeds. For details: 800-733-1830; www.osv.org.

Be Mine: Chocolate and Valentines: February 11–12, 2012

See chocolate processed by hand in the manner of the ancient Mexicans and learn how it was enjoyed in the 19th century – as a beverage! Get the surprising 1824 recipe for “chocolate cakes.” See a display of antique valentines and learn about the local connection to the iconic cards. For details: 800-733-1830; www.osv.org.

Love Letters: An Evening with John and Abigail Adams February  11, 2012

Enjoy a presentation of John and Abigail's Love Letters presented by Patricia Bridgman and Thomas Macy in OSV's Center Meetinghouse. Following the performance, meet John and Abigail in the Bullard Tavern and enjoy period chocolate processing demonstrations, a chocolate and cheese tasting and musical entertainment. For details: 800-733-1830; www.osv.org.

Presidents Day Weekend: February 18–20, 2012

George Washington, the first U.S. president, was honored with balls and toasts in the 1830s. Take part in the celebration and embrace the joys of an old fashioned winter with ice skating, sledding on vintage 1830s sleds, and horse-drawn sleigh rides. Indoor hands-on crafts, activities, and entertainment for children are also available. For details: 800-733-1830; www.osv.org.