Ice House

Ice House. . , [lat N42 11.957 lon W083 44.436] , While this was used as the ice house for many years, this structure may have been one of the first buildings built on the farm. At one time it had a lean-to addition attached to the west side. According to Sutherland-Wilson family tradition, this may have served as the first shelter for the family. In any event, on the edge of the farmyard, the building was easy for horse-drawn wagons and sledges (heavy-duty wagons with sled runners) to access it in winter. It was then that the supply of ice needed for the balance of the year was stored here. Most of the ice wuld have been cut from the pond behind the dam in Saline. Some may have come from Mastodon Marsh, just to the southeast of the farm. The blocks of ice would have been stored in straw or sawdust to help insulate it from summer heat. From here the ice, so badly needed to prevent food from spoiling, would have been carried to the kitchen where it would have been placed in the upper section of an ice box. The lower section would have held the food. The ice block would have been replenished as needed. Imagine also, farmhands returning from the fields after working all afternoon under the blazing August sun. The east side wall of the Ice House, which would have been in the shade by that time of the day, surely was an inviting place to lean back against , absorbing the refreshing coolness of the wood which was kept cold by the dwindling supply of ice inside.