On one of my trips around the U.S., I stopped by Mt. Vernon, which was George Washington's (1st President of the U.S) plantation home in Virginia.
At the home was one of the coolest ideas for it's time. An Icehouse.
(Taken using Canon 80D camera with 15 - 75 mm lens)
(Closer look of sign by icehouse)
What his workers would do is dig up a dry well and fill the well with ice from the Potomac River, which is not too far from the home. They would do this during the winter time and the ice would last through the spring time and much of the summer time. This allowed them to keep meats and other supplies longer that would otherwise not be available.
The way they were able to keep it longer, other than keeping it in the well, was to cover the ice with sawdust. The sawdust kept the temperature lower, within the well, thus ice for longer.
Pretty neat stuff!
Who knew that one of our forefathers (maybe not his idea, but we'll never know) had the insight to come up with such a cool invention (pun intended).
If you ever make it to Mt. Vernon, make sure you check out the icehouse.
For more info, you can check out this site: