Fire & Ice Days

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While “wintertime” and “harvest” are hardly two ideas we put together, for 19th-century New Englanders it made perfect sense. In the world of 1830s economics, ice wasn’t just frozen water. It was cold, hard cash. Historians at Old Sturbridge Village will demonstrate how ice was collected the old-fashioned way at the Mill Pond, and visitors can give ice-cutting a try with a vintage ice saw much like the one Frederic Tudor, Boston’s “Ice King,” used to build his fortune.
Museum historians will give presentations about the history of ice skating and how early New England families kept warm in the winter. Visitors can also enjoy sledding, horse-drawn sleigh rides, and warm-up indoors with hot cider.