piper912•1mo agoOG Member

Found a 200 year old well in my backyard renovation in St. Louis

I was digging out for a new patio extension on a house I bought near Tower Grove Park last year and hit something solid about 4 feet down. Thought it was a rock at first but after brushing away the dirt I found it was a limestone ring. Called a local archaeologist from the Missouri Historical Society who came out and confirmed it was an old hand-dug well from the 1820s. They dated it from the bricks and some pottery sherds I found around the rim. The whole thing was filled in which means someone capped it probably when the house was built in 1903. They think it was used by the original farmstead before the city expanded out here. Has anyone else stumbled into something like this doing home projects? What did you end up doing with the site?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliotadams1mo ago

You got an archaeologist from the Historical Society? That's exactly the right move, most people just haul the stuff out and lose the history. For the well itself, you have a few options. I'd cap it with a heavy-duty metal grate or a thick piece of plexiglass so you can see down into it but nobody falls in. Put some gravel around the rim for drainage. I had a similar 1800s well on a property in Illinois, filled it with clean sand and put a small garden bed on top. Kept it from settling weird and messing up the patio.

the_cole1mo agoMost Upvoted

Filled one on my own place with crushed stone instead of sand... worked out better for drainage in the long run. The key is to pack it in layers and tamp it down as you go so nothing shifts later on. A solid grate on top gives you peace of mind and keeps the kids or pets from wandering too close.

david_rivera410d ago

Have you tried mixing in some clay with the stone in certain spots? I've seen that help with stability on older wells, especially if the ground around it is loose. @elliotadams mentioned using sand on a well in Illinois, and that makes sense for a garden bed on top, but the crushed stone with clay might work better for a patio area where you want it solid for years. I reckon it's all about matching the fill to what you're putting over it, like if you plan to lay flagstone later, you want a base that won't wash out under heavy rain.