What’s an “Ice House”? Quite literally, it’s the building where blocks of ice were stored, layered with sawdust, to be delivered to those people lucky enough to have an “icebox” to keep their food chilled. In this case, while there is an “Ice House” building, this small, hands-on, children-friendly museum offers much, much more than just the opportunity to see a lot of ice-cutting and handling tools.

The Ice House is a living, working legacy to the New London, NH, area from Bill Kidder, the man who created it and, who, until his death in 2005, spent many happy hours here polishing, tinkering, repairing, mowing, and showing interested folks around. He and his wife, Petie, collected a great variety of old and interesting stuff, including all kinds of tools and machinery (most of which still work), wonderful children’s riding toys, cars (preferably old Fords) and a wide variety of items of local interest including the Town’s original fire engine, a jail cell and first movie projector. He loved to show people around and share his infectious enthusiasm for “Yankee Ingenuity.” We hope you’ll visit and come again and again, as there’s no way to see it all the first time through. We’re open from mid-May to mid-October, Tuesdays and Thursday, 9-4, and Saturday 9-2. http://www.wfkicehouse.org

Some photos generously provided by John McMahon.