Abandoned Dug Wells, White Mountains – Today’s blog article focuses on a keyword. I chose one search term, abandoned dug wells, and searched my image archive for imagery that represents this subject matter. These keyword searches help identify the subjects I need more coverage of. As a photographer, creating an image of an abandoned dug well that is visually interesting can be a challenge.

The New Hampshire White Mountains are littered with abandoned eighteenth and nineteenth century homesteads. And many of these homesteads had a water source – the dug well. These wells were dug by hand to just below the water table and were lined with stones or other material to keep it from collapsing. If you find a dug well in the middle of the forest, there is a good chance you are in the area of an old homestead.

Above is the dug well at the abandoned 400-acre Samuel Wallace Farm in the Sandwich Range Wilderness. This homestead was part of the early nineteenth century hill farm community, which consisted of thirty to forty families, in Sandwich Notch. By 1860 only eight families lived in the Notch and by the turn of the twentieth century only one person lived in the Notch year around. According to the Sixty-Ninth Annual Excursion of the Sandwich Historical Society, this well was 18 feet deep back in 1988. It has been naturally filling in since then and isn’t that deep anymore.

One of my favorite dug wells is at the abandoned D. Flanders homestead (ref: 1860 map), later becoming the J. Campbell homestead (ref: 1892 map), along old South Landaff Road in Landaff. This forgotten homestead is part of a 1800s hill farming community that was along this road.

Many of the old dug wells in the forest have naturally filled in over time, but there are still plenty to be found. Some are only eight feet deep, while others are twenty-feet deep. The above dug well is at an abandoned homestead in Thornton Gore. Thornton Gore was the site of an old hill farming community that was abandoned during the 19th century. Based on an 1860 historical map of Grafton County this is believed to have been the site of the D. Merrill homestead. This well is still about 8 feet deep.

When it comes to historical subject matter most wouldn’t consider a dug well to be historically significant. But dug wells were an important part of eighteenth and nineteenth century homesteading. And to top it off they were dug by hand. On a side note, at one of my jobs during my teenage years, I use to have to go down into dug wells (around 25 feet deep) to clean them out. I don't miss those days.

All of the above images can be licensed for publications by clicking on the image you are interested in, and you can view more images of dug wells here.

Happy image making..

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Erin Paul Donovan

Owner of ScenicNH Photography LLC

Erin Paul is a professional photographer, writer, and author who specializes in environmental conservation and historic preservation photography mainly in the New Hampshire White Mountains. His work is published worldwide, and publication credits include: Appalachian Mountain Club, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Backpacker Magazine, and The Wilderness Society.