Harvesting Ice
Among the ruins of New Towne was a seven-foot pit, dug in colonial times. Not deep enough for a well, the hole tapered from 14 feet wide at the rim to 6 feet wide at the sandy bottom.
In Britain in the 1600s, perishables were often stored in huts built over pits filled with layers of fresh-water ice and straw. The trapped frigid air could keep meat and dairy products fresh until autumn.
The colonists brought with them their Old World patterns of subsistence: milling, baking, brewing, and preserving food. The hole found at New Towne was very likely a traditional English ice pit.
Marker is on Loop Drive, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
