South Georgia Ice Company, Tifton

The coolest place in Tifton has to be the ice house. The South Georgia Ice Company in Tifton GA has been making ice for a very long time. The ice would have been used everywhere in cool boxes in homes, shops, fisheries and even air conditioning. The most exclusive railway carriages had big ice trays and electric fans to cool the early railroad tycoons. The factory doesn't actually look like it is still operating as the building has a shabby abandoned air to it. But as we took pictures of it a worker popped out. He was keen to show us around the operation. Inside was a big hall where the whole floor was made of ice moulds. The workers hopped around like bees on a honeycomb. Some remains of rusting machines were left in place after retirement. It was probably too much bother to remove them. No attempt at hygiene was made and the notice on the door stated clearly that the ice was not food grade. Hoists and hydraulics help lift the moulds and send the ice through to a storage room. Outside you could still see remains of the train tracks and imagine trucks full of blocks heading across the state. A big propane powered engine in a frame in the loading bay powered an ice crusher which delivers the product from a large hose. It must be very noisy when a customer wants crushed ice. How does it survive today when refrigeration is commonplace? I have no idea who the customers are. Click the picture to see the whole gallery.

South Georgia Ice Company