This video is on the Rise and Fall of the Natural Ice Trade and is presented by Kevin Bair – historywithkev.com and Wakulla County Historical Society. Learn how the natural ice trade started, how the Civil War changed the face of the natural ice trade, and how it helped spur the birth of the mechanical ice trade. Learn a bit about Dr. John Gorrie of Apalachicola, Florida, and how his pioneering efforts in refrigeration and ice-making to help his sick patients during illness impacted two Confederate soldiers, the Whiteside brothers, to dream of and build ice-making plants in Florida and Georgia after the Civil War.
Check out https://historywithkev.com/ for the corresponding papers this presentation is created from:
The Civil War, The Ice Trade, And the Rise of the Ice Machine https://historywithkev.com/2020/08/25/the-civil-war-the-ice-trade-and-the-rise-of-the-ice-machine/
Dr. John Gorrie, “Father of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning”? https://historywithkev.com/2021/03/26/831/
My interview on Tallahassee PBS was about Dr. John Gorrie’s invention of an ice-making machine in 1850. https://www.pbs.org/video/the-old-story-of-john-gorrie-and-the-new-one-you-never-knew/
Hello! Our family has enjoyed all of your posts very much! My son has been working on a school project about the natural ice trade & we are wondering if you happen to have a timeline of it that he could use, please? He’s started with 1802, Thomas Moore’s refrigerator, then the big turning point of 1816 with Frederic Tudor in SC, then Wyeth’s tools making ice cutting more efficient in the 1820s. It sort of explodes after that! Thanks for anything you might be able to share. The Mandells
Hello,
I tried to email you the information I have to [email protected], but it was rejected. Please post your email for me. Once I have your working email, I’ll send you the ice timeline information.
Kevin