South Georgia Ice Co. RIP

It was clear that the South Georgia Ice Co. was living on borrowed time. Few repairs to the building had been done. Equipment was patched to keep it going. At the time of our last visit I wondered who would need ice that was not of food grade. As it turns out the answer was "nobody". The ice was made in metal buckets with particle board covers that the men walked over. The ice picked up rusty sediment and dust and woodchips so it wasn't suitable to put in your mint julep. In better days the blocks would have gone to keep fish cold, or to keep food fresh in an ice box or the picnic cooler. Or indeed to run the air conditioning in the luxury rail car of a railroad baron. Now everyone can get a refrigerator or aircon instead.
The calendar in the staff room was on April 2010 so they didn't even make it through the summer when the ice would have been wanted.

From 2011-10-12 Georgia Ice Co

Although the main entrance was padlocked all the other doors were open including this bulky insulated external door.

From 2011-10-12 Georgia Ice Co

The plant room was open with all the pipes and compressor on display

From 2011-10-12 Georgia Ice Co

The ice crusher and other clutter in the loading bay had been removed. If you took away the canopy it would look much like it would have as originally built. The freight cars could have picked up ice or carried on across the road to the Union Depot or the other warehouses alongside Chestnut Ave.

From 2011-10-12 Georgia Ice Co