He attributed his good health to his habit of soaking his feet in ice water every morning, and during his stint as George Washington’s Secretary of State in often-steamy Philadelphia—temporarily deprived of ice—he subscribed to an ice service. The ice, which cost a shilling a day, came from James Oeller’s hotel on Chestnut Street where ice harvested in winter from local rivers was stored in an insulated underground pit. At the hotel, the ice was used to chill butter, meat, and salad veggies, and (highly popular) to provide ice chunks for glasses of cold alcoholic punch.

Jefferson has two ice houses of his own at Monticello, and—during his first term as president—had an ice house built for the White House in