A presentation on ice harvesting on ponds in Walpole is set to be given by Betsey Dexter Dyer at the Tuesday, April 12 meeting of the Walpole Historical Society, held in the Walpole Public Library at 7 p.m.
From about 1880-1940, entrepreneurs in Walpole harvested tons of ice from four Walpole ponds. Much of the ice was shipped away on railroad cars, but some was delivered in Walpole, door to door, by the Spring Brook Ice Company at Clark’s Pond.
This lecture is an account of those four ponds and their associated ice houses, and the yearly activities in bringing in an ice crop. Find out why it was only four ponds that were harvested commercially (out of more than a dozen ponds in town) and learn something about which creative, entrepreneurial families were most involved with ice harvests. A few additional topics include fancy ice skating on Turner’s Pond.
Betsey Dexter Dyer is a member of the Walpole Historical Society and has written three Walpole history books, which will be available for purchase both at the lecture and at the Walpole Historical Society, 33 West Street, which is open on Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.
