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The ice well at Gadsby’s Tavern is located at the corner of Royal and Cameron. It offers a glimpse into how ice was kept cold in the 18th century. #project366
https://teejay.blog/2024/08/27/the-ice-well.html
@teejay I think this is the first "ice well" I've seen. Up here in N.H., people were involved in exporting ice to other places and storing it for local consumption, but the only way I ever saw that done was with sawdust in the early 1970s, long after the heyday of the ice block business. I can't even remember what kind of container was used. Consumers eventually had the option to buy a White Mountain Ice Box. You'll see them in natural oak now, but I've seen ads from early in the previous century offering an array of colors.
@markstoneman This one is pretty cool, you can see all the way to the bottom and they have it staged with hay, which they would pack around the ice. It’s 4-5 blocks from the Potomac, so it must have been quite the feat to drag it up here.
@teejay I just ran across something related on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@world_of_engineering/post/C_TZOGgI25H
