Apalachicola Area Historical Society Spring Speaker Series: Antebellum Ice

History expert Dr. Kevin Bair will speak about the Southern Antebellum period’s use of natural ice, Fredric Tudor’s natural ice trade, the period’s medical use of ice to treat malaria and yellow fever, John Gorrie’s quest for ice and refrigeration, and how the Civil War Naval Blockade of Southern ports caused the ice dependent South in 1862.

Dr. Kevin Bair is a U.S. Navy Veteran, is a History Ph.D. student at Liberty University who studies Civil War Medicine. He has a master’s degree in Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University, a bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Florida International University. He and his wife currently reside in Crawfordville as he works on his Ph.D. dissertation, Liquid Gold: Weaponization of Ice, the Thirsty South and the Civil War Naval Blockade.