The Iceman Cometh

The latest online edition of The Straight Dope answers a question that I had been pondering just a few days ago.

Dear Cecil:

When I'm reading novels of, say, the antebellum south and there's a guy who goes around on a cart selling blocks of ice, how the heck did he get it? I mean, they didn't have the fridge to rely on. Did they go way up north and cut blocks of ice and pack it in straw for the summer, or was there a way to manufacture ice at that time? I can't figure this one out and have nowhere else to turn. Please help.--Terwiliger Paige

Read it all here.