By Florence Goodman

Last month while driving on Central Avenue my navigation system showed a body of water there as "Theriault's Ice Pond." I had never thought about the different names that body of water had been given throughout the years, Wilson's Pond, DellaBella's Pond, Lily Lake and Todd's Pond and it made me start to think about the lakes and ponds in our town and how they came about. This month I will discuss some of that history and the winter use of these ponds.

Alan Russell, who grew up in Wolcott has researched a great amount of Wolcott history over the years. In September of 2015 he wrote an excellent description of "Lakes and Ponds" in his September blog that I would like to use as part of this article. "The topography of Wolcott does not lend itself to naturally occurring lakes or ponds. The terrain is quite hilly as the town is part of the "foothills of the Berkshires" which are themselves part of the Appalachian Mountains. This is a very old mountain range and the part in Connecticut was worn down not only by the passage of time, but by the last ice age. The highest elevations are in the NE part of town with a few spots topping 1000' (the high point being 1046'). In contrast, where the Mad River exits the town between Route 69 and Woodtick Road the elevation is only 450'. Thus, all the lakes and ponds in town are artificial ones that were created by building dams across the many streams/brooks/rivers that flow through town. Most of these are earthen dams, but a few, such as the dam that creates Scovill Reservoir, are more substantial ones of masonry or concrete." Alan lists approximately nineteen named ponds or lakes in Wolcott. For his complete list google (Russell's Ramblings -Ponds and Lakes). Many of these ponds were used in the winter months as ice ponds and each had an icehouse that was found next to it.

The ice industry or ice harvesting was started in 1806 by a New England businessman Frederic Tudor. Ice was sent by barge, railroad or ships to the South and Caribbean Islands and became a lucrative business. Most Americans didn't have refrigerators until the 1940s so, keeping food fresh was a hit or miss proposition. Many homes had "ice boxes or cold closets" which were usually made of wood and lined with tin or zinc. They were insulated with materials such as cork, sawdust or straw. These iceboxes needed large blocks of ice to keep them cold. Therefore, the ice business became a well-established and important industry during this period of our history and some Wolcott residents earned a living producing ice to fill them. I have found information on several ice ponds with ice houses and ice businesses.

Theriault's Ice Pond was created by damming the Lily Brook and had several names depending on who owned the land around it. In 1848 the pond was used by Streat Todd as part of his sawmill operation. By the 1930s the Theriault Ice Company began using the pond for their ice making business. They had a commercial icehouse at this location on Central Avenue. Mr. Edward Theriault serviced residents of Wolcott and surrounding towns until several years of mild winters forced him to close the icehouse and sell the land to DellaBella"s Mushroom Company. The DellaBella family raised mushrooms on this farm for many years.

The Moroz Ice Pond was found along Wolcott Road across from Nichols Road and today is owned by the Wolcott Lion's Club. Sometime between 1900 and 1930 the pond was created by the damming of Old Tannery Brook. They used dynamite to create the 3.5-acre pond. In the 1930s it was owned by Mr. Frank Morozuk (the "uk" at the end of the name meant Ukraine) of 259 Wolcott Road, who used it as an ice pond. The pond is still there, but the icehouse, which was later renovated into a home, and became part of the Herbst family property was rented out for many years. Several years ago, the house was sold to CPE Electric who had the Fire Department burn it for practice, and then built the warehouse that is there now.

Another icehouse was located on Ranson Hall Road at Evers Pond. This 137-acre farm was purchased from Ranson Hall in 1904 by James and Mary Bergen and at that time had an icehouse on the property. The following is the recollection of it by Clarence Atwood. The icehouse with which I was more familiar was that of Mr. James Bergen at Sunny Hill Farm on Ransom Hall Road. When the ice became thick enough, he would use a plow-like piece of equipment, which a horse pulled across the ice, producing straight furrows clear across the pond. Then he marked right angle furrows, which produced ice cakes, about two feet by four feet. An old auto engine on runners with a two-foot buzz saw was then drawn along the lines to cut the ice cakes nearly to the bottom. A long chute led from the water's edge up the bank and into his icehouse. Beginning at the water's edge, a channel was opened across the pond and ice cakes, one by one beginning at the far side were pushed along the channel and up the ramp into the icehouse where they were bedded in sawdust. This ice was used as needed to keep his milk cool until it could be delivered to customers on his daily milk route. Some ice was chipped and spread on the milk bottles to keep them cool during delivery. Sawdust was used as an insulator to keep the ice from melting, and it did indeed, so the supply of ice lasted until the next harvest season. Sometimes someone helping with the ice harvest fell into the water. The unlucky person was pulled out of the water and hustled up to the nearby house to get thawed and dried out. Often, he was offered a good stiff drink of hard cider or sometimes some good homemade brandy. Our own farm (Atwood farm on Woodtick Road) had an icehouse and a small pond nearby, but it fell into disuse before my time. The James Bergen, Sunny Hill Dairy Farm icehouse on Ransom Hall Road continued to be used by the Evers family when they purchased that property sometime in the late 1950s or early '60s.

Welton's Ice Pond was found on the right side of Spindle Hill Road at the bottom of the hill just south of Wakelee School before the Waterbury town line. It was called Icehouse Pond, but its proper name was Welton Pond. It was one of the earliest ponds in Wolcott. It received its name from the Welton brothers who lived on either side of it in the mid-1800s. It is on Col. Richards Brook, as is Chestnut Hill Reservoir. The lower part of Col. Richards Brook below Chestnut Hill Reservoir is now called Old Tannery Brook. (I also remember some people calling it Pritchard's Pond, but I'm not sure why.) The icehouse was located next to the pond and is still standing today, it is used as a storage garage. Back in 2013 I interviewed a couple, Jean and Tony Bosco and they had this to say about that ice pond and icehouse. "We would watch as the men cut the ice and haul it up to the icehouse using an elevator system to move the ice. They would put hay on the ice to keep it from melting. This worked well and the ice stayed frozen all summer long."

Over the years, I have researched and found the names of about thirty farms that were found in Wolcott, but I know there were many more and each farm, no matter the size had the same needs, water, land to plant crops, fields for the livestock and a way to preserve the food that they produced. I'm sure many of these farms had small ponds and ice houses or deep cold cellars to store their food through the summer, but if they did not, there was an ice business that supplied them with the ice they needed.

Back in the late 1950s and mid 1960s there was still an ice company located at 1149 Wolcott Road; it was Souza Ice Service. The Stone Schoolhouse Museum has two ice picks advertising this business. I remember when I was growing up in the 1950s, we would walk up Wolcott Road past the Souza Ice Service. Dan Souza and his wife still live at that location.

FYI: I will be presenting the History of the Wolcott Library on March 13 at 2:00 at the Wolcott Library.

(Information for this article was taken from: Memories of Wolcott in the 1930s by Clarence Atwood of Woodtick Road; "Wolcott History-Lakes and Ponds" by Alan Russell (http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2015/09/wolcott-history-lakes-and-ponds.html"); Wolcott Community News articles, April 2014 and September 2013 by Florence Goodman; and an interview in 2013 with Jean and Tony Bosco)

By the 1930s, the Theriault Ice Company began an ice making business.

Mr. James Bergen at Sunny Hill Farm sold milk and ice to keep it from spoiling.

Welton's Ice Pond was found at the bottom of Spindle Hill Road.

The Moroz Ice Pond was found along Wolcott Road across from Nichols Road.

Theriault's Ice Pond was created by damming the Lily Brook. It was also called Wilson's Pond, DellaBella's Pond, Lily Lake and Todd's Pond.

Souza Ice Service was located at 1149 Wolcott Road.

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