By Kevin Williams
How times have changed….
Many Amish used to have “ice houses.” These outbuildings would be filled with ice and foods that needed to be kept frozen would be put inside. Generally the ice would be cut from an area pond during winter and the icehouse would be insulated well enough that the ice house would stay cold through the summer. Some Amish still do this.
In Berne, Indiana’s Amish community, however, the ice houses have generally been replaced with “freezer houses.” What are these?
A freezer house is usually a centrally located outbuilding, usually owned by a non-Amish person, who then allows an Amish family to rent an electric freezer to store food. Doing this allows Amish families to keep food truly frozen without dealing with the hassle of cutting ice or the generally taboo practice of having electricity at home.
The Amish often make compromises that seem to twist logic for most outsiders, but this arrangement makes sense for some Amish. It allows them to have a freezer without the electricity.
These freezer buildings usually have telephones in them too that Amish people can use for a small fee. As cell phones have become more common, even among the Amish, fewer people need a pay phone.
Buildings like these dot the countryside outisde of Berne, Indiana. They give the Amish some home comforts without having them at home…like a flush toilet…
A peek inside one of these buildings show how they are full of freezers. These are BIG freezers and often two or three families will go in together on renting on.
The green signs in the above photo give prices for ice (50 pound block for $1.50 and crushed ice for $1.75 and phone calls…the phone calls are long distance $1, local calls .50 cents and toll-free, .50 cents. Any call over 10 minutes is $2. All of this is paid on the honor system.
