NH’s ice harvesting history honored with an Historical Highway Marker

The NH Division of Historical Resources is pleased to announce that a New Hampshire Historical Highway Marker has been installed on Route 13 in Brookline near Lake Potanipo, a site where ice was harvested by the former Fresh Pond Ice Company.

The marker reads:

“FRESH POND ICE COMPANY

“Beginning in 1890, Fresh Pond Ice Company operated on the eastern shore of Lake Potanipo. The first ice harvest was shipped to Boston for local distribution in 1892 on Brookline’s newly complete railroad. At its peak of operation, the company employed more than 250 people and harvested more than 100,000 tons of ice annually in 13 icehouses. The advent of electric refrigeration, coupled with a fire that destroyed the extensive complex of icehouses on March 22, 1935, effectively ended commercial ice harvesting at this location.”

The marker is located on the west side of Route 13 approximately two-tenths of a mile north of where that highway intersects with Mason and Meetinghouse Hill Roads.

It is the 271st marker in New Hampshire’s Historical Highway Marker program.

Any municipality, agency, organization or individual wishing to propose a historical highway marker to commemorate significant New Hampshire places, persons or events must submit a petition of support signed by at least 20 New Hampshire residents. They must also draft the text of the marker and provide footnotes and copies of supporting documentation, as well as a suggested location for marker placement.

New Hampshire’s historical highway markers illustrate the depth and complexity of our history and the people who made it, from the last Revolutionary War soldier to contemporary sports figures to poets and painters who used New Hampshire for inspiration; from 18th-century meeting houses to stone arch bridges to long-lost villages; from factories and cemeteries to sites where international history was made.

An interactive map of the state’s historical highway markers is available at the NH Division of Historical Resources’ website, nh.gov/nhdhr.

The New Hampshire Historical Highway Marker program is jointly managed by the NH Division of Historical Resources and NH Department of Transportation.