[MassHistPres] Preserving Old Wells

[Cindy Brockway]

I have worked on two 17th century properties this year with old wells.  For 
the first, located in the front yard of a home, we capped the well with a 
period well cap stone found at a stone yard in Eliot Maine that collects old 
stone.  (On Route 236)  For the other, the archaeologists determined it was 
a 19th century well and the walls were in good condition, so they capped it 
with a solid piece of granite fieldstone large enough to more than cover the 
opening.
I have worked on many museum properties where large individual pieces of 
fieldstone were an indicator of an old well location, so this is perhaps the 
best period-appropriate way to handle an old well.  For newer wells, or for 
a less expensive approach, a new cement well cap is an option but this 
definitely tells everyone that a well is underneath.

Cindy Brockway
Past Designs
Kennebunk ME
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <SMARGAN at aol.com>
To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 8:54 PM
Subject: [MassHistPres] Preserving Old Wells


> Our land trust had been given a parcel of land which has two old stone 
> wells
> on it. We would like to preserve these, along with the old stone walls, 
> but
> both wells must have a covering of some kind and be safe enough for the
> public to view, enjoy, etc. One contractor told us just to fill them in, 
> as  this
> would be the least costly and, of course, no one could then fall into 
> either
> of them. The land trust would like to get some ideas about how to cap 
> them in
> an aesthetically pleasing and "historically correct" manner.
> Thanks for any information.
>    Sandy Peterson
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