Laurence Pringle, author of ICE! The Amazing History of the Ice Business discusses his book at 11am on Saturday March 23rd at the Nyack Library
by Brian Jennings
Did you know that the Ice Industry was once a booming business at Rockland Lake? Hear from the author of ICE! The Amazing History of the Ice Industry at 11a on Sat March 23 in the Community meeting room at the Nyack Library.
Laurence Pringle of West Nyack is the author of over 100 books for children and young adults. His latest book is about that long-ago time, before refrigeration, when people depended on ice from lakes and rivers to keep food and drinks cold and safe.
Harvesting, storing, and delivering that ice to homes, restaurants, etc. was a huge, vital business. Kirkus Reviews called the book “A coolly fascinating, nostalgic glimpse into life as it was over a century ago.” The author used local libraries and archives to help research his book.
Pringle will have artifacts from the ice industry to illustrate points from his talk. He will be available after to sign and sell copies of the book.
Thomas Edison: 1902 Cutting and Canaling Ice from Rockland Lake
This rare film — shot by Thomas Edison in 1902 — shows horses pulling sleighs that cut ice from Rockland Lake. There’s no audio because that whole “talkies” thing didn’t happen for another 25 years when The Jazz Singer was released.
Dave, I believe Mr. Pringle cites these Edison videos in his book. He can offer more insight on Saturday.
I ran across another video on YouTube which might be related to the ice cutting film posted above. It’s called “1898 Thomas Edison, Loading Ice on Cars” and it shows a gravity train of cars going down a *very* steep slope and men unloading the cars with a large river in the background. Could the “hill” be the Palisades and the river be the Hudson? If anyone knows, feel free to post an answer! http://youtu.be/iQImPkUKJZo