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What do Alexander the Great, King Solomon, Catherine de Medici, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington have in common, other than wealth and privilege? They all had a taste for ice cream.

Wealth and privilege were indeed needed to enjoy cold treats during the lifetimes of these great personages as snow or ice had to be transported swiftly to reach their tables before becoming puddles of rapidly warming water. During the Roman Empire, Nero Claudius Caesar (A.D. 54-86) frequently sent runners to the mountains for snow which was then flavored with fruits and juices.

More than a thousand years later, Marco Polo returned to Italy from the Far East with a recipe that closely resembled what is now called sherbet. Quickly, Europe became enamored of the sweet treat but it was not until 1660 that the general populace got a taste of the culinary treasure when Procopio Cutò introduced Italian “ice cream” gelato at his Café Procope, the first café in Paris. From there, it was only a hop, skip and a jump across the “Pond” for delegates such as Thomas Jefferson, who lived in France during the American Revolution, to bring the delicacy to America.

President George Washington was one of its early advocates. He had a sweet tooth—well, not literally; by this date he had barely a tooth left—but he spent approximately £51 (roughly $5,600 in today’s purchasing power) for ice cream in 1790. Thomas Jefferson, a complex man with a taste for high-living, couldn’t get by without an 18-step recipe for an ice cream delicacy resembling a Baked Alaska. And Dolley Madison, the first lady of entertaining in the Early Republic, served a magnificent strawberry ice cream creation at President Madison’s second inaugural banquet at the White House.

Clearly, Americans were on to something big and by 1851 making ice cream had become an industry. The efficiency of making and preserving ice cream during transport made it ever-more-available and today annual production tops 1.6 billion gallons. But as with other food movements, recent years have seen a trend toward enjoying locally made products with natural ingredients.

Ice cream production in the Housatonic River Valley stretches from New Milford in the south, where Kimberley Farm at 15 Chestnut Land Road converts a portion of its dairy products to 12 creamy flavors of ice cream, up to Ayelada, 505 East Street in Pittsfield MA. Ayelada, Greek for “cow,” creates fat-free, creamy, frozen yogurt good enough to inspire South County residents to make pilgrimages to its door.

In between are a variety of ice cream crafters who add more than a soupcon of pleasure to the summer’s cultural landscape. Among these purveyors are Peaches ’n Cream at 632 Torrington, Road in Litchfield. Established in 1982, it is the granddaddy of locally sourced ice cream shops in the region and has a loyal following of customers who drive up to an hour to get a cone. “Their fresh peach ice cream is the stuff of legend,” raved one reviewer.

In Bantam, the connoisseur can partake of Arethusa ice cream, produced from the milk of what are arguably the most pampered bovines in Litchfield County. The gourmet ice cream is produced at Arethusa Farm, where the dairy plant team blends the farm’s fresh milk and cream to make custom mixes for each flavor of its super premium (16 percent butterfat) products.

The Arethusa Farm Dairy, located at 822 Bantam Road, is now open for curbside pick-up at 10AM and scooping at noon daily.

Just down Route 63 from Bantam, take a left toward Washington CT and stop for lunch at Marty’s Café, a charming little eatery at 4 Green Hill Road. Marty’s doesn’t makes its own ice cream but it does feature small-batch, handcrafted flavors from a Prospect CT firm. The ice cream is made with all-natural ingredients, extracts and flavoring.

Connecticut does not have a premium on custom-made ice cream, however. Across the Massachusetts border in Great Barrington, crowds daily surround the SoCo Creamery Scoop Shop at 5 Railroad Street.

Founded in 2004 as a scoop shop, SoCo makes award-winning super-premium ice cream, sorbet and gelato with dairy products sourced from a fourth-generation family farm in Vermont. It crafts its flavors from scratch in its kitchen using the best ingredients, whether they be local blueberries or real vanilla plucked from orchids halfway around the world.

In Lenox, The Scoop, a specialty ice cream shop at 51 Church Street, offers its own Blondie’s ice cream, made onsite, frozen yogurt, smoothies as well as SoCo Creamery gelatos and sorbets—all of which can be enjoyed on its porch. A sampling of flavors of Gifford’s of Maine ice cream is also available. Flavors change seasonally.

Pittsfield MA stakes its claim for dairy greatness on Ayelada, a modest little outlet with a flavorful menu of frozen yogurts made daily from skim milk from small local farms. The dairy used to make the yogurt is from grass-fed cattle and contains no antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones.

Flavorings are derived from locally sourced 100-percent fruit purees when possible and the flavors change seasonally. This week, for instance, Pineapple Mango joins the line-up. There are even dairy-free vegan options such as Coconut Caramel and Summer Breeze, a combo of coconut milk, mango and lime with a hint of chili pepper.

So, with temperatures soaring into the 90s it’s time to get out of the house, into your car and go in search of summer’s solace: a bowl or cone heaped with delicious, creamy ice cream.