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In the 19th century the means to refrigerate food and keep it fresh were few and far between. Nature, however, provided New York City with ample supplies of winter ice each year, and the harvesting of it was a cultural event and economic powerhouse up and down the Hudson Valley.

The Briggs Family in Coeymans, New York were one of many family enterprises which retrieved ice from the river, kept it wrapped in tarps under sawdust, to later deliver it on steamboats down the river for restaurants, grocers, and homes to use in their “ice boxes” one of which is still found in this author’s home. Though born well after the heyday of ice harvesting and well within the age of refrigeration, one still remembers going out on the frozen Tioghnioga River in Upstate New York to cut ice, bring it on sleds to an ice house filled with saw dust, to later use for the church Homemade IceCream Fundraiser each year at the Maple Festival in the village of Marathon (Cortland County), New York. It was a laborious effort always completed with steaming hot chocolate and doughnuts.

The traditionally cold winter of 2026 created conditions on the Hudson River well known in the 19th century. This evokes memories of ice harvesting for church benefits and a year’s worth of fresh food for New York City which created jobs and wealth all the way up the Hudson River Valley.

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