More than 300 visitors braved single-digit temperatures to attend Howell Living History Farm’s annual ice harvest on Jan. 31, the site’s first public event after its winter break.
PHOTO | Lois Veber-Altman
Howell Farm in Hopewell Township is a working farm where visitors experience life as it was at the turn of the 20th century. Its educational programs rotate with the agricultural seasons, and in the days before electricity, ice from its pond was crucial for food preservation.
Most people in the 1800s had an “icebox” for preserving food. The ice that “powered” it had to be harvested from lakes and ponds during winter and stored for year-round use.
Ice harvesting was a multi-million dollar industry in the 1800s. According to historical records, this farm was known as the “ice farm” because its pond yielded enough ice for its own needs and for the surrounding area.
Pete Watson, farm director, says that farmers who worked this property packed their milk cans in ice for the train ride to markets along the Delaware Canal. The Farm’s mid-1800s icehouse is insulated to keep ice throughout the year, and on Saturday it got well stocked.
Out on the pond Saturday morning, Watson coached adults and children to use period ice harvesting equipment. Participants young and old applied themselves to tasks from long ago, things they had likely never heard of before.
Visitors quickly learned to use breaker bars, pikes and ice saws. The first steps involved scoring the surface into increasingly deeper grooves and sawing through 10 inches of ice.
Pulling up ice blocks came next, followed by sliding them across the pond to a ramp leading to the icehouse. Loading the ramp called for experienced guidance, and Kevin Watson, Pete Watson’s son and assistant director, stepped in to secure ice blocks with rope. His spirited dog, Blue, encouraged every move.
Up at the icehouse, teams of farm hands and visitors hauled each block using ropes and pulleys. Once they positioned a block on the icehouse platform, they invited one of the kids to push it into the underground cold storage cellar. By midday, that’s where Pete Watson was layering tons of blocks with sawdust to keep them from freezing together.
Meanwhile above ground, visitors had options to participate in activities that demonstrated how ice was once essential to daily life and how it is still used at Howell Farm.
One option, ice cream making, is a crowd pleaser, even in cold weather. It didn’t take much to lure people into the 1800s farmhouse to warm up by the wood-burning stove and learn how ice cream was made before refrigeration.
According to Jess Valenza, cow milker, sheep shearer, and cook, the mixture of chopped ice with rock salt lowers the temperature to freeze milk and cream into ice cream. She invited kids to participate by cranking an antique ice cream maker before she served up samples of the finished product.
Inside the farmhouse kitchen, visitors were able to see a vintage ice box. Kevin Watson said, “Everyone’s heard of an icebox, but they don’t really put it together what that means until they see one in the kitchen.”
Another ice-themed activity featured the craft of ice candle making. Gail Trautz, a veteran Howell volunteer, helped visitors make their own. Here, ice chunks packed into a container mold create a random Swiss cheese shape once the wax sets and the ice melts.
One popular activity that visitors did not do on their own was drive the horse-drawn bobsled. This took a skilled teamster and visitors were lining up. Unlike an Olympic racing bobsled, the authentic 1800s model is basically a wooden wagon on sled runners, and the rides were a leisurely tour of wintery pastures dotted with stands of sugar maples.
People waiting for rides warmed their hands around a fire stoked with freshly chopped logs. Kids were free to “body sled” on the hard pack snow, build a snowman, and slide across the pond.
Visitor participation in rural lifeways and agricultural methods from the turn of the 20th century goes to the heart of what “living history” means at Howell Farm.
Larry Kidder, farm historian, said that living history here means that “this is a working farm, it’s not an exhibition. It produces crops that are used.” Much of what the Farm doesn’t need for its programming is donated to local food banks.
The farm’s programming follows the cycles of growing and harvesting. Spring events of maple sugaring and field and orchard preparation are followed by cultivating potatoes, corn, wheat, and apples. Meanwhile, farmhands are tending sheep, cows, chickens, pigs, horses, and bees, and inviting the public to join in during its free Saturday events.
Christine Madzy, programming coordinator, says, “We like all our visitors to get involved.” She says that “kids learn best by doing” and “what we provide here is a hands-on experience you’re not going to get elsewhere.”
Interactive events like ice harvesting exemplify the vision of Inez Howell, who donated the pre-Revolutionary War farm to Mercer County in 1974.
In her letter to the county, Inez Howell wrote: “I am offering the farm as a gift to Mercer County in memory of Charley [her husband]. To be used as a Living History Farm, where the way of living in its early days could not only be seen but actually tried by the public, especially children – milking a cow, gathering eggs in a homemade basket – helping to shear sheep, carding wool, spinning and weaving.”
Experiences like these appear to be attracting increased attendance, and accommodating growth is one motivation for Mercer County’s recent purchase of an adjacent 6-acre parcel to expand Howell Farm. In their announcement on Feb. 13, County officials said they consider the expansion as part of a new initiative to boost tourism in Mercer County.
Kevin Watson said the high turnout at this year’s ice harvesting event “was a rare instance of extremely cold weather and some very intrepid visitors. It’s an interesting enough program that piques everyone’s interest enough that the cold doesn’t bother them.”
Marion Zukas of Princeton is a returning visitor who brought friends from Texas to the farm for horse-drawn rides on Valentine’s Day.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “Very historic. One of my friends is a teacher, and I thought she would appreciate the Farm with all its character. It’s a learning experience. Something different.”
