As Newport emerges from this year’s ice age, the fresh water ponds will start to thaw. During the coldest years of the last century, the ponds provided ice for Aquidneck Island residents. Cut into 24 x 30 inch blocks, the ice was hauled into large ice houses, packed in straw and piled five layers deep. Trucks and small railcars transported the ice to stores and houses year round, which was sold for ten cents a block.
Above: A c.1900 photo of a Middletown ice house from the NHS collections.