History Notes, Feb. 17: Ice houses and ice cutters

Last Updated on Sunday, May 05, 2013 08:08 am Written by Lynn Wood Sunday, February 17, 2013 01:00 am

History Notes

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Welcome to "History Notes" - our new weekly feature that looks back through Egg Harbor Township history. Each Sunday online we will get a chance to learn or reminisce, courtesy of Lynn Wood, from the Greate Egg Harbour Township’s Historical Society. She will be sharing early photos of places in Egg Harbor Township with our readers online and in our print editions as well.

Ice houses and ice cutters

In the late 1800s up until about 1918, Daniel and Richard Collins had an ice business in Bargaintown. The blocks of ice were kept in ice houses. Men cut narrow canals through the thick ice and blocks were cut with hand saws. Several other men had long hooked poles which were used to push the blocks of ice along the canals into the ice house where they were stacked and covered with salt, hay and sawdust for insulation. Copies of this popular photo of the Bargaintown ice cutters have made their rounds into the homes of many interested people and historical societies.

  Submitted by GEHTHS and Linwood Historical Society/ Men cut narrow canals through the thick ice and blocks were cut with hand saws, as the gentlemen on the left are holding. Some of the men pictured in the photo of the Bargaintown ice cutters are David T. Larned, Joseph Thoman, Joshua Tindley, Hosea Sutton, Frank Hackett, Herman Shauffler, Robert Lloyd, Joseph Price (sitting on the block of ice), John Doughty, Joshua Garwood, Ben Sutton and Gus Brower.

These photos are courtesy of Greate Egg Harbour Township Historical Society and Linwood Historical Society as well as courtesy of “Sketches of Egg Harbor Township” by the Egg Harbor Township Tercentenary Publications Committee.

Submitted by GEHTHS and Linwood Historical Society/One of the ice houses that stood in Bargaintown from the late 1800s until 1918.

Upcoming events at the Great Egg Harbour Township Historical Society:

“History of Free Blacks in EHT”

Dr. Goddard will be presenting information on the early history of black families that settled in this area at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 8 in the Egg Harbor Township Community Center, 5045 English Creek Ave. There will be a $2 donation. Society members and students are free. New members and volunteers are always welcome. Membership applications will be available. Please visit www.gehthsmuseum.org