Each year at Howell Farm the program season opens with the annual ice harvesting event. This event recreates a slice of Pleasant Valley life that was an important winter job each year. The ice cut in January or February would typically supply the farmers throughout the year when stored in an efficient ice house such as ours.

During the program, visitors help farmers cut, chop and shave ice, fill an ice house, and make ice cream. Conditions permitting, visitors can also join the harvest crew on the frozen pond and take a turn using an "ice saw." Ice ponds were important to the farmers of New Jersey in the 1890s and a state law prohibited ice skating on ponds from which ice was gathered.

At 1:00pm and 3:00pm visitors can make and sample ice treats such as old fashioned snow cones and ice cream.

Visitors help with sawing eight inch ice and moving the ice blocks to the ramp to the icehouse. (Photo by Jeff Kelly)

What if, against the prediction of "The Old Farmer's Almanac," there is no ice on the pond? The work still goes on, as it probably would have a century ago when farmers faced with warmer winters filled their ice houses with commercial ice. This may have happened in the winter of 1899 when the Hopewell Herald noted in late February that in the Titusville area, which includes Pleasant Valley, not a pound of ice had been gathered so far that winter, even though the Delaware River had been lightly frozen for more than a week.

Often in the 1890s ice harvesting began in late December or early January. On January 4, 1893 the Hopewell Herald reported that Pleasant Valley resident Hart Lewis had nearly filled his ice house the previous week with ice about six inches thick. He had cut the ice on "Parkhill's creek", really on Moore's Creek on the Parkhill farm, only a hundred yards or so from today's Howell Farm. A warming trend could ruin the ice harvest, though, and Mr. Lewis lost several loads of ice due to rains on Sunday when he failed to haul away the ice he cut on Saturday. Apparently Mr. Parkhill was letting him cut ice where the creek flowed through his property. Farmers without a creek or pond on their property often made this kind of arrangement. Two years later it was noted that Pleasant Valley resident Hart Larue began his New Year by beginning to fill his ice house on January 2. Like Mr. Lewis, though, he cut more ice than he could haul to the ice house and left it on the creek. The next day saw a thaw and rain and he had to work quickly to save his blocks of ice before the creek rose and washed them away.

The foundation of our ice house is original and dates back to the late 19th century. The house itself is a modern reconstruction based on oral traditions in Pleasant Valley. In late January 1903 A.B. Hunt filled this ice house. At the time he did not live at Howell Farm, but lived nearby. He expected to rent the farm from its Titusville owner, A.B. Coleman, beginning in the spring and was planning ahead to supply his needed ice. If there is enough ice to fill our house, it will hold about 24 tons of ice. But, there will be much more ice on the pond that other farmers can cut to haul to their own ice houses.

Children's craft program:
Ice Candles
On a walk-in basis (Groups of eight or more must pre-register)
Time: 11:00am to 3:00pm
Approximate time to complete project: 20 minutes
Materials fee: $3.00

A recent article in The Furrow, the quarterly newsletter of the Friends of Howell Farm, discussed the ice harvest and how the ice is preserved for use throughout the year on the Farm. To read this article and see some more photos of the ice harvest, click here.

On January 31, 2004 workhorse Barney was brought to the ice, by then about 10 inches thick, to help in the process of scoring the ice to guide sawing it into blocks. [photo by Jeff Kelly]

During the afternoon in 2005, workhorses Bill and Buster took visitors on bobsled rides around the farm. (photo by Jeff Kelly)

During the winter regular farm chores must continue and the animals be cared for. Ice on the pond isn't the only ice the farmers have to be concerned with. In this photo Howell farmer Halsey Genung clears ice from the drinking trough for the work horses. (photo by Jeff Kelly)

(Return to top of page)