The Historic Craik-Patton Well House

In 1984 an authentic, 1822 circular well house was added to the Craik-Patton property. The well house had been used as the source of water by six generations of the James Frederick Brown family at their home “The Elms” that was located at 127 Alderson Street in downtown Charleston, West Virginia.  The home was torn down to make way for a new federal court house in 1954.

The well house was restored by the Dames as a historical project and moved to Daniel Boone Park on the Kanawha River. The well house has a peaked, gray-slate roof that stands on a concrete slab; it also has white Doric columns that match those on the front of the historic Federalist period home. The age period and architecture of the well house made it appropriate to be incorporated as an out building at Craik-Patton; in addition, family ties made the addition appropriate because a relative of the Rev. James Craik’s wife, Juliet Shrewsbury Craik, was related by marriage to the Brown family.

On Craik-Patton House tours, visitors learn that families in the 1800s had to pull water up by rope and bucket and then pour the water in pitchers for the family to use inside the house.  The original hook where a bucket would have been attached is still visible at the Craik-Patton well house.