"The Ice Man's Here!"

The freezing process was used commercially for the first time in 1842, but large- scale food preservation by freezing began in the late 19th century with the advent of mechanical refrigeration. Before refrigeration came to the home, the ice man made rounds in the community. Cards were place in windows telling him how much to deliver to a home. Kids from the area appeared at his stops hoping to get a refreshing ice chunk. The ice man usually visited several times a week. Ice would last for only a day or two and keep basic foods, such as milk and butter, cool in the "ice box".

On Sundays, after the midday meal, families would gather on the porch and make ice cream. The method consisted of placing ingredients in a metal container, surrounded by a freezing mixture of ice and coarse salt, and mixing them until smooth.

The house in this work is the "Old Green Clark Home", located two miles from Walnut Grove, Mississippi, just inside the Scott County line. According to Grover Clark, the house was built near the time of the Civil War by Green (G B) Clark. There were four large rooms on the ground floor with two large rooms on the upper. The kitchen was a separate building near the back of the house. The upper rooms of this type of home usually served as bedrooms for the children- the boys in one and the girls in the other. Some distance behind the house in the dense wood is the Clark Family Cemetary. The house is now owned by a hunting club from Jackson, Mississippi.

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