A Basement Well: Historic Finds in Old Town Alexandria
The surprises don’t seem to stop at one of our Old Town Alexandria renovations. Besides an old cistern in the basement and an antique, built-in, scalloped shelf cabinet in the living room, we also discovered a well in the front of the basement. It is about 20′ deep and has about 5′ of water in the bottom.
It is not unusual for a house of this stature to have these things. The well was the only water for the house. The cistern might have served as a water reserve, catching roof water and filtering it, another source of water for use by the house. The well may also have been used to store ice in winter, although the access hole in this one may have been too small to allow it’s use for ice.
What will we find next?
