Arts & Entertainment

Gadsby's Tavern Museum Ice Well Bricks for Sale

Bicentennial bricks are part of a fundraiser to start new repairs and renovations of the historic ice well, originally built around 1793.

So you’ve heard the one that goes “So you wanna buy the Brooklyn Bridge? Alexandria can one-up that - the Gadsby’s Tavern Museum Society wants you to buy an ice well – for real.

In the early 1970s, the historic ice well originally built around 1793 outside of was stabilized and opened for viewing at the corner of Cameron and N. Royal streets.

Bricks from that renovation have now been removed for new repairs and the society, a group of private citizens seeking to maintain the health of the museum, are offering the 1970s bicentennial bricks for purchase.

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The bricks were made by Alexandria’s now-shuttered Calvert Brick Co. and each brick has a “CALVERT” imprint. They will be labeled and partially covered with felt so that the bricks can be used decoratively or not.

The bricks are on sale for $20 a piece at the museum or find staff at their table at the Old Town Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.

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The museum is also extending the fundraiser to allow bricks to be returned to staff by Sept. 16 for entry in its Pet Brick Contest. Interested parties can fill out a brick form with contact information and then decorate, carve or embellish their brick for a chance to win $100 for best overall entry or the second place prize for “Coolest Brick,” which best relates to the Ice Well.

Judges say think “Pet Rock” when it comes to the “Pet Brick” – don’t limit yourself to animal companions but consider designs that “people might find entertaining or comforting to have in their presence.”

 


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