We have 3 water wells on the homestead. One of them, (deep well) we drilled when we got here and the other two wells were dug back in the 1800's. It's amazing when you think about it that something built by hand from raw materials of earth and rock could still be functional and useful today.
Most of the water we use is from rain catchment and we have the holding capacity of over 5000 gallons now on the homestead. But at certain times like when our tanks are frozen, we need to go to our hand dug wells and bring out water by bucket the way it was done over 150 years ago. The hand dug well never freezes.
So you have probably seen the well above in our posts before. The homestead well house was recently posted about by 
The lesser known well we have on the homestead is down the mountain on the property. It's grown over and sort of in disrepair. The well also never goes dry and always seems to have water in it. It too is part of a spring system that our ponds and other wells are attached to underground. It was my goal this winter to clear it out and clean up the briers and brush surrounding it before spring.
So that is what I started on yesterday. I brought down the chain saw, clippers, shovel and a rake. It appears that the well was built up at some point with cinder blocks and whoever did that didn't do a very good job because there are pieces of block all over the place.
It also appears that most of this well was caved in at some point. The well still always has water but doesn't go very deep. Just west of the well is a main water line that was buried years ago and that may have attributed to the cave in of the well.
After clipping back the briers and thorns, I pulled them out of the way and that cleared up the site tremendously.
Then I used the rake to pull out a lot of the debris and muck that I could reach in the well. I pulled a lot of the brick around the surrounding area and kinda placed it back as a wall on the one side that looked pulled down.
It didn't take me long to have the site looking much better and presentable and easy to get to from the road.
THE HISTORY
(I bet my road is older than your road)
When we moved here, a friend in the area told us that that the well was over 100 years old and that the road it was next to was used by travelers on horseback and wagon. They would use the well to water their horses and stop to rest. Another neighbor whom we buy our milk from told us that she just always remembered that the well was there and that people in the area used it all the time when they needed water.
Imagine the history at this site. It makes me wonder who built it and what their lives were like in this remote place 150 years ago. Think about the kind of conversations by the travelers that could have taken place by this well so long ago. Where were they going and where did they come from? To me, it's all so fascinating.
The Search
With all the foot, wagon and horse traffic this remote well may have seen for passing travelers, the opportunity for a good metal detecting spot is possible. I've always been interested in metal detecting and eventually going over the land searching for any dropped silver or copper coins. There are actually a number of good locations in the area like an old church that has stood for as long as this well has been here too. It was the gathering place for families who lived on this mountain 100 years ago.
That will be another post and I'll keep you updated when that process starts. But the clearing of the well site has been on my list of "things to do" for quite some time.
See you next time on the homestead.
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