Stone Well (Lot 5)

About This Structure

A stone-lined circular well on Lot 5, located a few yards from the large round feature and close to the ocean. The well was covered with plywood by the lot's former owner, the late Robert Young, who classified it as a 20th century structure. The team acquired Lot 5 from Young''s estate in 2022, and for several seasons the well went largely uninvestigated.

In Season 13, Marty Lagina and metal detection expert Gary Drayton removed the plywood cover and descended into the well for the first time. They found it considerably deeper than expected, with several feet of compressed leaves below the apparent floor and the ground still giving way underfoot, indicating they were nowhere near the bottom. Gary detected no metals at the accessible depth but noted the well had never been searched before and that non-metallic artifacts such as pottery or glass could be buried deeper. Near the well, the pair recovered an iron hook that lab analyst Emma Culligan dated to the mid-1700s based on XRF analysis showing clean iron with elevated chromium and copper content and no modern alloying elements, suggesting a continental European origin.

Archaeologist Laird Niven observed that the well is circled with rocks in a manner very similar to the nearby round feature. Marty noted that digging a water well so close to the ocean made little practical sense, raising the possibility that the structure served a different purpose. Robert Young's assessment of the well as modern appears inconsistent with the findings and with the mid-1700s hook recovered from inside it. The team plans to return with archaeologists for a full investigation.