For more on icehouses and outbuildings in general, see John Michael Vlach's
Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery.
 
We partially excavated the icehouse here at the Hermitage in 1993.  There
will be a quick description of findings in the SHA newsletter in December,
and I can send you more if interested.
 
The description of a crushed brick path reminds me of a feature found here in
the formal garden which was probably meant to be more of a drain beneath a
path rather than a path surface.  I can supply more info if you are
interested.  Something similar came up at Eleutherian Mills in Delaware,
reported by Akerman in 1968 in Historical Archaeology.
 
Larry McKee
The Hermitage