Ice Cutting was an important industry in towns around the Bay in the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. 1880 saw twelve ice companies in Bowdoinham, alone. Ice was cut in large blocks and stored in huge ice houses insulated with sawdust.

Sagadahoc Ice Company, Bowdoinham

Ice from Merrymeeting Bay and the rivers that flow into it was shipped all over the world. Englishmen in faroff India cooled their drinks with ice cut in the Kennebec and carried, packed in sawdust, in sailing ships.

The play Ice! presented by the 5th & 6th grades of Dresden School, celebrates the ice industry in Dresden, Maine.

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