Ice House Museum at Cumberland Island National Seashore

The Ice House Museum at Cumberland Island National Seashore is located on the island and is housed in the former ice house built by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie around 1890. Situated near the Dungeness ferry dock, the Ice House was used to store huge blocks of ice brought down from the north by ship. By the turn of the 20th century it had become obsolete as an ice storage facility due to the invention of ice making equipment and was thus used for other purposes. In addition to the museum, restroom facilities are located on the back side of the building.

The Ice House Museum is a smaller version of the park’s mainland Cumberland Island National Seashore Museum in St. Marys, Georgia. While it covers the same topics—the human history of the island—it lacks the large items found at the mainland museum, such as a display of carriages. It is interesting that both museums focus almost exclusively on human history and offer virtually nothing on natural history, which is what most people come to the island for.

Museum exhibits are set up in chronological order and are easy to follow. The story begins with the Timucuan Indians, the original inhabitants of Cumberland Island, and ends with the Carnegies, who owned most of the island from the late 1800s until selling their land to the National Park Service in the early 1970s. There is also information on the very early English settlers, the slave plantations, the Civil War on Cumberland Island, and the hotel industry.

Pottery shards on display in the Ice House Museum were found on Cumberland Island and date between 970 BC and 530 AD

As with the museum in St. Marys, information about the Carnegies makes up the bulk of the exhibits. There are plenty of old photos that bring the Gilded Age alive, and there is an interesting panel about the mansions on the island. There are some artifacts and physical exhibits, but no videos like at the other museum.