The historic Thompson Ice House in South Bristol will appear in a two-hour program on the cable network H2 from 9 to 11 p.m., Thursday, May 22.
“Hidden History in Your House” explores “the history of the world” and the “story of America” through everyday houses, according to associate producer Clifford Nash.
South Bristol resident Ken Lincoln is the president of the Thompson Ice House Preservation Corp., the nonprofit that operates the ice house and the on-site museum.
The “Hidden History” crew came to the ice house in late February, the week after the annual ice harvest Feb. 18.
“They shot for over six hours,” Lincoln said. “We basically did an ice-cutting right from start to finish, just as we would at a normal ice harvest.”
The special tells its story through the evolution of home technology. For example, it features a segment about the transition from outhouses to modern plumbing.
“Where we got pulled into it was going from the ice box to the refrigerator,” Lincoln said. “They wanted to show where the ice comes from.”
The segment will include a brief history of the ice industry and examine the practicalities of ice storage, like the ice house’s use of sawdust as insulation. The ice house will probably only make up “a few minutes” of the entire show, Lincoln said.
The experience of the shoot “was quite interesting,” Lincoln said. “We had to retake things over and over again to get it just right.”
“It was a learning experience,” Lincoln said. “They were great to work with. It was a good bunch of people.”
The cast and crew of the long-running PBS show “This Old House” is making “Hidden History in Your House.” Thursday’s show is a pilot. “I believe they’re going to do a series after the pilot show,” Lincoln said.
The program will appear on the cable network H2, short for History 2.
“This is all about exposure for the ice house,” Lincoln said. “That’s our mission.”
For more information about the Thompson Ice House, visit http://www.thompsonicehouse.com.
