Water Street & Well Wishes
Construction in historic Charlottesville can sometimes net unexpected results. Recently, City workers were digging off the downtown mall and came across an odd piece of wood. 
Because they took the care to stop and remove the artifact in one piece, we get a glimpse into 19thC water technology. The artifact is part of an old well. The wooden piece is the bouyant part within the well (floating in the water). The accompanying metal pieces secure the wood within the well and allow it to open and close the opening to the well. Because we know the provenience of the artifact, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society was able to research the origins of the well. Below is a map of the find spot, with the well (shown here on a city plan) highlighted in orange.
If you look at the map, you will notice that the well was dug at the corner of Main and Second Street. If that doesn’t sound familiar, try Water Street & 2nd Street (the contemporary street names). This well and many others like it explain the origin for the name “Water Street.”
June 5th, 2007 at 9:50 am
From the Director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society (ACHS), Dr. Douglas Day:
Just to clarify: The chunk of wood photographed with the yellow background is an 2 1/2 foot section of a much longer, octagonally carved, wooden pipe with an approx. diameter of 24″, with a hollow core carved to about 6″ in diameter. We have two chunks like this, one from the bottom of the well had holes to draw water in.
The wodden contraption below that (in my hands) is a part of a chain of similar contraptions, each about 18-20″ long, with stoppers and valves at each end made of forged iron and possibly India rubber. This chain was drawn up the well, the valves opening and closing so as to draw water up the wooden pipe.
We’ve not been able to find other examples of well parts like this, from the first half of the 19th century. They were so well-preserved because they were not exposed to air, way down there in the muck.
Once exposed, when the excavators dug the thing up, it began to decompose quite rapidly. It is slowly crumbling.
I would love for anybody who wants to see it to come by the Historical Society. Maybe there’s an archeologist out there with a background in hydraulic engineering that can figure it out.
Dr. Day, Director ACHS