The use of ice for refrigeration became popular in New England by the middle of the nineteenth centruy, especially as farmers shifted to dairy production. The small farm buildings used to store ice through the summer can usually be recognized by their thick insulated walls and few windows. Early examples have low ventilators on the roof.
Often located under evergreen trees or other shady locations, many icehouses have a small entry room lit by a small window and an insulated room, connected by air ducts to the ice storage space, for stroing dairy products and meats. Occasionally, brick or stone-walled ice houses where built into a bank of earth with an entrance facing the north.

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