My Ice Age

The winter weather in the northeast, this year, is warmer than normal. While driving on some errands, I observed the rivers with little, or no ice and lakes with very thin ice covers. My thoughts went back to my pre-teen years when refridgeration was just beginning. Berkshire Farm School for boys, where my dad worked and my family lived, was still in the age of ice boxes. Large, heavy cakes of ice were used every day to keep the food at a cool temperature. Underground structures, called root cellars, were also used for food preservation. Berkshire Farm had a shoreline on Queechy Lake. In the summer, it was a great place for swimming, diving and camping. During the winter months the lake provided a year long supply of ice for the ice boxes. A huge barn-like building stood among the trees at the lakes edge. This was called the Ice House. Large cakes of ice were cut from the lake and channeled to the conveyor up into the Ice House. Layers and layers of these cakes, insulated with sawdust, were piled from floor to roof. The ice lasted until the following winter. It is a good thing that winters like this one are few, and far between. Because, back in those days, food preservation would have been most difficult. And, summertime cocktails would have been served warm.-----------Grandpa Gordon