Westover Plantation, nearly across the river from Flowerdew Hundred has William Byrd's original icehouse wide open and with the drain at the bottom. It's basically a brick lined cylinder about 20 feet deep. Also, Shirley Plantation has their original icehouse extant beneath one of the Queen Anne Forecourt buildings and it too is a large open brick structure.

For a more narrow-band focus, "Cooling The South, The Block Ice Era, 1875-1975" by Elli Morris ISBN# 978-0-979-8532-0-3 has a good look at that part of the industry.

Lyle Browning


On Nov 3, 2014, at 4:28 PM, Leo Demski <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hey everyone-  I'm working on a literature review regarding icehouses and the western US ice harvesting industry of the middle 1800s- early 1900s.  There's quite a bit of historical data available, as well as several historian analyses of various aspects of the ice industry, but the amount of archaeological literature I've been able to find has been slim. Can anyone recommend any reports or articles?  I'm particularly interested in the larger industrial landscape of ice harvesting, but any aspect of ice use, harvesting tools, storage, icehouses or related structures, "ties" to railroads, associated architectural design, industrial technology, etc from any geographic location would be welcome. 
> 
> The few North American sources I've found include an article by Jerry Hilliard about an icehouse in Arkansas and Pierre Beaudet's description of the Quebec ice industry as detailed in Under the Boardwalk in Québec
> City.  I have seen icehouse excavation mentioned in passing in other sources (including Deetz' Flowerdew Hundred), but it appears mostly to emphasize reuse as large trash pits, rather than focus on their original use as ice storage areas.
> 
> Any suggestions, thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks and best wishes,
> -Leo Demski
> MA student
> University of Nevada, Reno
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