Hudson River Maritime Museum
  • Home
    • About
    • Board >
      • Join Our Board
    • News
    • Newsletter
    • Work With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Mailing List
  • Visit
    • Hours And Directions
    • Parking
    • Museum Store >
      • Museum Online Store
    • Docking
    • Book A Charter
    • Rondout Lighthouse
    • Facility Rentals
    • Area Attractions
  • Museum
    • Lighthouse Film
    • RiverWise >
      • Documentary Films
    • Museum at Home
    • Exhibits >
      • New Age of Sail
      • Warning Signs
      • Mary Powell
      • Rescuing the River
      • Online Exhibits
    • Lecture Series
    • Speaking Engagements
    • Walking Tours
    • School Programs
  • Boat Tours
    • All Boat Tours
    • Meet Solaris
    • Lighthouse Tours
    • History Tours
    • Tasting History
    • Special Guest Tours
    • Ecology Tours
    • Evening Cruises
    • Private Charters >
      • Visiting Vessels >
        • Maiden
        • Eleanor
        • John J Harvey
        • Kalmar Nyckel
        • Impossible Dream
  • Events
    • Events Calendar
    • Lecture Series
    • Pilot Gala
    • Celebration of Woodworking >
      • Kingston Boat Builders Challenge
      • Sponsor
    • RiverWise
    • Riverport Women's Sailing Conference
    • NE Grain Race
    • Sail Freight Conference
  • Boat School
    • Wooden Boat, Sailing, & Rowing Blog
    • Youth Classes
    • Adult Classes
    • Instructors
    • Maritime Training
    • RWBS Library
    • Restoration
  • Sailing
    • Sailing School
    • Adult Sailing
    • Youth Sailing Program
    • Student Resources
    • Sea Scouts
    • Sailing Instructors
  • Rowing
    • Learn to Row
    • Rowing Instructors
  • Research
    • Research Requests
    • Research Library Catalog
    • Collections >
      • Digital Collections
    • History Blog
    • RiverWise
    • Submerged Resources Project
    • Pilot Log
    • Hudson River History >
      • Henry Hudson
      • The Hudson River
      • Sloops of the Hudson River
      • Robert Fulton
      • Hudson River Steamboats
      • New York Canals
  • Support
    • Member Login
    • Become A Member
    • Donate
    • Memorial Donation
    • Donate Items
    • Artifact Donations
    • Wish List
    • Boat Donations
    • Planned Giving
    • Volunteer
    • Museum Store
    • Library Membership
    • Business Supporters
    • Green Museum
    • Our Sponsors

History Blog

Construction of Ice Houses for family use - 1849

1/27/2023

0 Comments

 
Editor's note: A few weeks ago we featured an article on commercial ice houses. Today's article is about ice houses for family home and farm use.. The following text was originally published in September 1849 in the publication "The Genesee Farmer". Thanks to volunteer researcher George A. Thompson for finding, cataloging and transcribing this article. The language, spelling and grammar of the article reflects the time period when it was written.
Picture
                                                     Construction of Ice-Houses

Ice is a cheap luxury in this country, and the Ice House very justly begins to be reckoned one of the necessary buildings on every complete farming establishment. Indeed it is indispensable to the proper preservation of the products of the Dairy and the Garden, as well as of meats, pastry, & c. It would be a gain to many a family, in one year, of what one that would answer every purpose would cost. We recommend the matter, at once, to the attention of our readers.

The following excellent suggestions on Ice Houses are extracted from the "Horticulturist":
To build an ice house in sandy or gravelly soils, is one of the easiest things in the world. The drainage there is perfect, the dry porous soil is of itself a sufficiently good non-conductor. All that it is necessary to do, is to dig a pit, twelve feet square, and as many deep, line it with logs or joists faced with boards, cover it with a simple roof on a level with the ground, and fill it with ice. Such ice houses built with a trifling cost, and entirely answering the purpose of affording ample supply for a large family, are common in various parts of the country.

But it often happens that one's residence is upon a strong loamy or clayey soil, based upon clay or slate, or, at least, rocky in its substratum. Such a soil is retentive of moisture, and even though it be well drained, the common ice house just described will not preserve ice half through the summer in a locality of that kind. The clayey or rocky soil is always damp – it is always an excellent conductor, and the ice melts in it in spite of the usual precautions.
Something more than the common ice house is therefore needed in all such soils. "How shall it be built?" is the question which has frequently been put to us lately.

We desired Mr. Wyeth's hints for building an ice house for family use, both above ground and below ground.

In the beginning, we should remark that the great ice houses of our ice companies are usually built above ground; and Mr. Wyeth in his letter to us remarks, "we now never build or use an ice house underground; it never preserves ice as well as those built above ground, and costs much more. I, however, send you directions for the construction of both kinds, with slight sketches in explanation." The following are Mr. Wyeth's directions for building:

"1st. An Ice House above ground. An ice house above ground should be built upon the plan of having a double partition, with the hollow space between filled with some non-conducting substance.

In the first place, the frame of the sides should be formed of two ranges of upright joists, 6 x 4 inches; the lower ends of the joists should be put into the ground without sill, which is apt to let air pass through. These two ranges of joists should be about two feet and one-half apart at the bottom, and two feet at the top. At the top these joists should be morticed into the cross-beams, which are to support the upper floor. The joists in the two ranges should be placed each opposite another. They should then be lined or faced on one side with rough boarding, which need not be very tight. This boarding should be nailed to those edges of the joists nearest each other, so that one range of joists shall be outside the building, and the other inside the ice room or vault.

The space between these boardings or partitions should be filled with wet tan, or sawdust, whichever is cheapest or most easily obtained. The reason for using wet material for filling this space is, that during winter it freezes, and until it is again thawed, little or no ice will melt at the sides of the vault.

The bottom of the ice vault should be filled about a foot deep with small blocks of wood; these are levelled and covered with wood shavings, over which a strong plank floor should be laid to receive the ice.

Upon the beams above the vault, a pretty tight floor should also be laid, and this floor should be covered several inches deep with dry tan or sawdust. The roof of the ice house should have considerable pitch, and the space between the upper floor and the roof should be ventilated by a lattice window at each gable end, or something equivalent, to pass out the warm air which will accumulate beneath the roof. A door must be provided in the side of the vault to fill and discharge it; but it should always be closed up higher than the ice, and when not in use should be kept closed altogether.

2d. An Ice House below ground. This his only thoroughly made by building up the sides of the it with a good brick or stone wall, laid in mortar. Inside of this wall set joists, and build a light wooden partition against which to place the ice. A good floor should be laid over the vault as just described, and this should also be covered with dry tan or sawdust. In this floor the door must be cut to give access to the ice.

As regards the bottom of the vault, the floor, the lattice windows in the gables for ventilation, etc., the same remarks will apply that have just been given for the ice house above ground, with the addition that in one of the gables, in this case, must be the door for filling the house with ice.

If the ground where ice houses of either kind are built, is not porous enough to let the melted ice drain away, then there should be a waste pipe to carry it off, which should be slightly ben, so as always to retain enough water in it to prevent the passage of air upwards into the ice house."

​If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!​
Donate Now
Join Today
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    This blog is written by Hudson River Maritime Museum staff, volunteers and guest contributors.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All
    17th Century
    1830s
    18th Century
    1950s
    1964 World's Fair
    19th Century
    20th Century
    21st Century
    9/11
    Abraham Lincoln
    Accident
    Accidents
    African American
    African American Philanthropy
    African Americans
    Agriculture
    Airplanes
    Albany
    Albany Rural Cemetery
    Albany To New York Marathon
    Algot J. Benson
    Alison Kraus
    American Eel
    American Revolution
    Amusement Parks
    Archeology
    Ashokan Center
    Ashokan Reservoir
    Atlantic World
    Australia
    Automobiles
    Baldwin Shipyard
    Ballooning
    Bannerman's Island
    Barge
    Barge Families
    Barges
    Barque
    Beacon
    Bear Mountain
    Benjamin Wright
    Benson
    Bicycling
    Billy Sunday
    Black History
    Boatbuilding
    Boat Christenings
    Boating
    Books
    Brickyards
    Bridges
    Britain
    Brooklyn Bridge
    Bud Atkins
    Buster Keaton
    Callanan Road Improvement Company
    Canada
    Canalboat
    Canals
    Canal Workers
    Canoes
    Captain Absalom Anderson
    Captain Benson
    Captain Benson Articles
    Captain Charles A. Tiffany
    Captain Samuel Schuyler
    Captain William O. Benson
    Capt. Eltinge Anderson
    Catherine Murdock
    Catskill And New York Night Line
    Catskill Evening Line
    Catskill Mountains
    Catskills
    Central Hudson Line
    Central Hudson Steamboat Company
    Charles Lindbergh
    Child Labor
    Chinese Exclusion Act
    Cholera
    Chris Mancuso
    Civil Engineering
    Civil War
    Claverack Landing
    Clean Water
    Clearwater
    Coal
    Coast Guard
    Conrad Milster
    Cornelius Vanderbilt
    Cornell Steamboat Company
    Covered Barges
    Coxsackie Lighthouse
    Crew
    Crime
    Cross-head Engine
    Croton Aqueduct
    Daniel Drew
    Danskammer Point
    Dar Williams
    Delaware Bay
    Delaware & Hudson Canal
    D&H Canal
    Disaster
    Dobbs Ferry
    Documentary Films
    Dogs
    Draft Riots
    Drydock
    Duck Hunting
    Dutch
    Dutch East India Company
    Duty To Rescue
    Earth Day
    Ed Carpenter
    Eddyville
    E. E. Olcott
    Electricity
    Elevators
    Environmental History
    Environmental Preservation
    Epidemics
    Erie-canal
    Erie-railroad-company
    Esopus-creek
    Esopus-island
    Esopus-meadows-lighthouse
    Excursion-boats
    Excursions
    Farmingdale
    Farmland
    FDNY
    Featured Artifact
    Ferries
    Ferryboats
    Fire
    Fireboat Fire Fighter
    Fireboat John J. Harvey
    Fireboats
    Fishing-nets
    Floods
    Foghorn
    Fourth-of-july
    Frances-franny-reese
    Franklin-delano-roosevelt
    Freight
    French-and-indian-war
    Freshets
    Frigates
    Fruit
    Geology
    George-washington-bridge
    George W Murdock
    George W. Murdock
    Ghost-fleet
    Ghosts
    Gradual-manumission-laws
    Grain Race
    Grain-race
    Grants-tomb
    Great-depression
    Greenport
    Half-moon
    Halleys-comet
    Halloween
    Harlem
    Harlem-river
    Harpers-weekly
    Haverstraw
    Hay
    Hay-barge
    Henry-gourdine
    Henry-livingston-jr
    Henry-tucker
    Historic News
    History-of-medicine
    Hoboken
    Holidays
    Holland-tunnel
    Homer-ramsdell-transportation-company
    Hospital-ship
    House-boats
    Hudson
    Hudson-athens-lighthouse
    Hudson-highlands
    Hudson River
    Hudson River Commercial Fishermen
    Hudson River Commercial Fishing
    Hudson River Day Line
    Hudson River Docks
    Hudson Riverescape
    Hudson River Fishermen's Association
    Hudson River Lighthouses
    Hudson River Night Boats
    Hudson River Reserve Fleet
    Hudson River Revitalization
    Hudson Riverscape
    Hudson River School Paintings
    Hudson River Sloop
    Hudson River Steamboat
    Hudson River Steamboats
    Hudson River Steam Yachts
    Hudson River Travel
    Hungarians
    Hyde Park
    Ice
    Ice Age
    Ice Barge
    Ice Barges
    Ice Boats
    Ice Breaker
    Ice Breaking
    Ice Fishing
    Ice Golfing
    Ice Harvesting
    Ice Houses
    Ice Skating
    Immigration
    Indian-point
    Indigenous
    Instruments
    Iona-island
    Iron Shipbuilding
    Island-dock
    Italians
    James-murdock
    Jay-ungar-molly-mason
    Jeffreys-hook-lighthouse
    Jim-malene
    John-a-roosevelt
    John-b-jervis
    Jones-point
    Juneteenth
    Just For Kids
    Kate Walker
    Ketch
    Kidnapping
    Kingston
    Kingston Point Park
    Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge
    Labor
    Labor Day
    Lady-bird-johnson
    Lecture
    Lenape History
    Life Ring
    Lighthouse
    Lighthouse Keepers
    Lighthouses
    Lilacs
    Lincoln Tunnel
    Livestock
    Long Dock Park
    Long Island Sound Steamers
    Lumber Barge
    Malden
    Manumission
    Marine Academies
    Marine Art
    Mariner's Mirror
    Marine Salvage
    Marvel Shipyard
    Matton Shipyard
    Media Monday
    Memorial Day
    Merritt-Chapman & Scott
    Merrygoround
    Mid-Hudson Bridge
    Milk
    MLK Day
    Model Boat
    Motor Boats
    Mountain-houses
    Muddy Paddle Able Seaman
    Muddy Paddle Bateau
    Muddy Paddle On The Erie Canal
    Muddy Paddle's Excellent Adventure
    Music Monday
    Nantucket
    National Maritime Day
    Native American
    New Baltimore
    Newburgh
    Newburgh Beacon Ferry
    Newburgh-Beacon Ferry
    New Jersey
    New Rochelle
    New Year's Eve
    New York
    New York City
    New York Harbor
    New York State
    New York State Barge Canal
    New York State Department Of Environmental Conservation
    Nightboat
    Nightboats
    North River Steamboat
    NY
    Nyack
    Ocean Liners
    Oil Crisis
    On The River
    Operation Sail
    Oral History
    Outboard Motor
    Packet Boats
    Palisades
    Paper Mills
    Parks
    Passenger Boats
    Passenger Steamboats
    Paul Robeson
    PCB Cleanup
    Peekskill
    Peekskill Riots
    People's Evening Line
    People's Line
    Peter Tucker
    Pete Seeger
    Philadelphia
    Photo Contest
    Piermont
    Piermont Pier
    Pilot Log
    Pleasure Barge
    Pleasure Groves
    Podcast
    Poetry
    Pollution
    Port Ewen
    Poughkeepsie
    Poughkeepsie Regatta
    Poughkeepsie Transportation Company
    Poultry
    Produce
    P. T. Barnum
    Race Tracks
    Railroad
    Railroad Travel
    Ray Ruge
    Real Estate
    Rescues
    Revolutionary War
    Rhinecliff
    Riverkeeper
    RiverWise
    RMS Titanic
    Robbins Reef Lighthouse
    Robert Boyle
    Robert Fulton
    Rockland Lake
    Rockland Lake Lighthouse
    Romer & Tremper Line
    Rondout
    Rondout Creek
    Rondout Lighthouse
    Rondout Suspension Bridge
    Rosendale Cement
    Rowing
    Safety Barge
    Sail
    Sail Freight
    Sail Freighter
    Sail Freighter Friday
    Sailing
    Sailing Vessel Biographies
    Samuel Ward Stanton
    Saugerties
    Saugerties And New York Steamboat Company
    Saugerties Evening Line
    Saugerties Lighthouse
    Saugerties Steamboat Company
    Scenic Hudson
    Schooner
    Schooner Vanda
    Schooner Wyoming
    Schuyler Steam Tow Boat Line
    Scow
    Sea Shanty
    Shad Fishing
    Shandakan
    Sheet Music
    Shipbuilder Thomas Collyer
    Shipbuilding
    Shipping
    Shipwrecks
    Shipyard
    Silent Film
    Sing Sing Prison
    Skiing
    Skillypot
    Slavery
    Slaves
    Slavic
    Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse
    Sleightsburgh
    Sloops
    Small Steamboats
    Snow
    Snowshoeing
    Solar Boat
    Souvenir
    Spalding's Winter Sports (1917)
    Sports
    Stagecoaches
    Statue Of Liberty
    Steamboat Bill
    Steamboat Biographies
    Steamboat Clermont
    Steamboat Crew
    Steamboat General Slocum
    Steamboat Hendrick Hudson
    Steamboat Mary Powell
    Steamboat Onteora
    Steamboat Rensselaer
    Steamboats
    Steamboat Santa Claus
    Steamboat Swallow
    Steamboat Thomas Cornell
    Steamboat Ulster
    Steamboat Whistles
    Steam Derrick
    Steam Engine
    Steamer Albany
    Steamer Alexander Hamilton
    Steamer Benjamin B. Odell
    Steamer Berkshire
    Steamer Chauncey Vibbard
    Steamer City Of Kingston
    Steamer City Of Troy
    Steamer-concord
    Steamer Constitution
    Steamer Crystal Stream
    Steamer C.W. Morse
    Steamer Hendrick Hudson
    Steamer Homer Ramsdell
    Steamer Iron Witch
    Steamer Isaac Newton
    Steamer Jacob H. Tremper
    Steamer James W. Baldwin
    Steamer Mary Powell
    Steamer Naugatuck
    Steamer Onteora
    Steamer-plymouth
    Steamer Point Comfort
    Steamer Poughkeepsie
    Steamer River Queen
    Steamer Saratoga
    Steamer "Sleepy Hollow"
    Steamer State Of New York
    Steamer Sunnyside
    Steamer "Sunnyside"
    Steamer Thomas Collyer
    Steamer Washington Irving
    Steamer "Water Witch"
    Stony Point Lighthouse
    Storm King
    Strikes
    Sturgeon
    Stuyvesant Lighthouse
    Submarine
    Sunday News
    Sunflower Dock
    Tappan Zee
    Tappan Zee Bridge
    Tarrytown
    Thomas Cornell Steamboat Company
    Tivoli
    Toboggan
    Tourism
    Towboat A. B. Valentine
    Towboats
    Travel
    Tug Bear
    Tugboat Osceola
    Tugboats
    Tugboat Thomas E. Moran
    Tug Cornell
    Tug Cornell No. 20
    Tug Cornell No. 21
    Tug Cornell No. 41
    Tug Edwin Terry
    Tug Eli B. Conine
    Tug George W. Washburn
    Tug Hercules
    Tug J.G. Rose
    Tug John D. Schoonmaker
    Tug Jumbo
    Tug Lion
    Tug Osceola
    Tug Perseverance
    Tug Peter Callanan
    Tug Pocahontas
    Tug R.G. Townsend
    Tug Rob
    Tug S.L. Crosby
    Tug William S. Earl
    Ulster Park
    U.S. Coast Guard
    U.S. Lighthouse Board
    US Merchant Marine
    Valentine's Day
    Van Wie's Point
    Washington State
    Water
    Weather
    Westchester County
    West Point
    Whaling
    Wharf
    Wildlife
    Winter
    Winter Festivals
    Winter Sports
    Women
    Women Lighthouse Keepers
    Women's History
    Women's History Month
    Women's Sports
    Wooden Ships
    Wood Pulp
    World War I
    World War II
    Yellow Fever

    RSS Feed

Hudson River Maritime Museum
50 Rondout Landing
Kingston, NY 12401

​845-338-0071
fax: 845-338-0583
info@hrmm.org

​The Hudson River Maritime Museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the maritime history of the Hudson River, its tributaries, and related industries. ​

Members Matter!

Become a member and receive benefits like unlimited free museum admission, discounts on classes, programs, and in the museum store, plus invitations to members-only events.
Join Us!

Support Education

The Hudson River Maritime Museum receives no federal, state, or municipal funding except through competitive, project-based grants. Your donation helps support our mission of education and preservation.
Donate Today
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • About
    • Board >
      • Join Our Board
    • News
    • Newsletter
    • Work With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Mailing List
  • Visit
    • Hours And Directions
    • Parking
    • Museum Store >
      • Museum Online Store
    • Docking
    • Book A Charter
    • Rondout Lighthouse
    • Facility Rentals
    • Area Attractions
  • Museum
    • Lighthouse Film
    • RiverWise >
      • Documentary Films
    • Museum at Home
    • Exhibits >
      • New Age of Sail
      • Warning Signs
      • Mary Powell
      • Rescuing the River
      • Online Exhibits
    • Lecture Series
    • Speaking Engagements
    • Walking Tours
    • School Programs
  • Boat Tours
    • All Boat Tours
    • Meet Solaris
    • Lighthouse Tours
    • History Tours
    • Tasting History
    • Special Guest Tours
    • Ecology Tours
    • Evening Cruises
    • Private Charters >
      • Visiting Vessels >
        • Maiden
        • Eleanor
        • John J Harvey
        • Kalmar Nyckel
        • Impossible Dream
  • Events
    • Events Calendar
    • Lecture Series
    • Pilot Gala
    • Celebration of Woodworking >
      • Kingston Boat Builders Challenge
      • Sponsor
    • RiverWise
    • Riverport Women's Sailing Conference
    • NE Grain Race
    • Sail Freight Conference
  • Boat School
    • Wooden Boat, Sailing, & Rowing Blog
    • Youth Classes
    • Adult Classes
    • Instructors
    • Maritime Training
    • RWBS Library
    • Restoration
  • Sailing
    • Sailing School
    • Adult Sailing
    • Youth Sailing Program
    • Student Resources
    • Sea Scouts
    • Sailing Instructors
  • Rowing
    • Learn to Row
    • Rowing Instructors
  • Research
    • Research Requests
    • Research Library Catalog
    • Collections >
      • Digital Collections
    • History Blog
    • RiverWise
    • Submerged Resources Project
    • Pilot Log
    • Hudson River History >
      • Henry Hudson
      • The Hudson River
      • Sloops of the Hudson River
      • Robert Fulton
      • Hudson River Steamboats
      • New York Canals
  • Support
    • Member Login
    • Become A Member
    • Donate
    • Memorial Donation
    • Donate Items
    • Artifact Donations
    • Wish List
    • Boat Donations
    • Planned Giving
    • Volunteer
    • Museum Store
    • Library Membership
    • Business Supporters
    • Green Museum
    • Our Sponsors