The Spring
The location of the cabin was determined by several factors but one was by accident.
Soon after purchase of the acreage, on random "walking the land", I came across an area of spongy grass. This seemed odd as it had not rained for a while. After explorating the surrounding area, I noted that there were similar areas in a pattern leading up a slope. I reached down and tugged at the grass overlaying the soppy ground. I was able to remove a large patch of grass and sod that revealed bedrock underneath. The beautiful bedrock was smooth and wet. I continued to remove additional patches of grass and sod of about one to two inches thick and in each case there was bedrock underneath. Following the soggy ground up the slope led to a hill after which there was no further wet grass. I dug at the ground where the wet ground ended and found the faintest of gurgling water. This was obviously a spring! This type of spring is called a seepage or filtration spring in which the source water has filtered through permeable earth. Since the highest point in the county is on our property and the intervening drainage area is on our property, it is pure filtered spring water. |
Looking uphill toward the fountainhead, we found a primitive concrete slab.
Fully opened bedrock with spring flow.
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(For historic details see Springhouses). Detail of the slab. This was used in the distant past as the floor of a springhouse. A springhouse is a small building constructed over a spring. The enclosing structure was used for refrigeration before the advent of ice delivery. The water of the spring maintains a constant cool temperature inside the springhouse throughout the year. Food that would otherwise spoil, such as meat, fruit, or dairy products, could be kept there, safe from animal depredations as well.
Here in the picture above we are in the process of digging the area around the fountainhead to open it up and build a retaining wall. This and the subsequent retaining walls along the spring was to avoid the filling in with soil that had happened over the years.
On the left is a picture of the same area with the retaining walls. |
Later we cut out a large pond to recieve the water from the spring. See POND.