Well House, Ashburnham, MA | Featuring Custom Steamed Shingles

Well House, C. 1903
Ashburnham, MA

Article Courtesy of Joe Von Deck

The Well on Meeting House Hill

Today it is seldom visited, except on Memorial Day when the parade organizes in its vicinity. Even then it seems to be ignored.

According to Phoebe Rideout, the old well was dug and stoned in 1816. It would have been a new experience for teamsters trudging along the old 1743 West Line County Road to the top of Meeting House Hill at the end of a long pull. Its sweep would have been easily visible.

Probably more than one stopped to slake the thirst of his oxen while traveling the busy road from Keene to Boston. And one can suspect that the parishioners at the local church drank of its waters to ameliorate the dryness of the sermon.

But after 1817 when the main road through town was shifted south, following the present Route 12, and the new meeting house was erected at the foot of the hill, it would have been used only by local farmers, and the few traditional die-hards who swore by the magic of its waters.

With a new well off Main Street—its location was behind the old Stevens Library—the old well became an object of neglect. Neglect is so often the fate of whatever no longer seems to have importance in the life of towns.

The salvation of the well came in the person of Melvin O. Adams. A town benefactor with a sense of history and a native son, Adams was responsible for the renovation of the Meeting House Hill Cemetery and the Town Pound.

Under Article 21 of the warrant on March 2, 1903 the town meeting authorized Adams to make whatever repairs necessary around the old cemetery, including building a well house. The article clearly states: at his own expense!

“Art. 21. To see if the Town will vote to authorize Melvin O. Adams without expense to the Town to make such improvements and changes on the Old Common on Meeting House Hill and the lands of the Town adjoining, as he may from time to time determine,—such improvements to consist among others of clearing the pine grove, seeding the down the Common, building a new well-house, etc.”

In 1903 Adams had a new well house erected over the old well with an extensive observation platform. At the turn of the century, before the re-growth of the natural forest, one could look down into the bustling center of Ashburnham. The houses, the busy streets and the spires of the churches stood clearly out even to a near-sighted observer.

For nearly a hundred years Ashburnham’s well house stood on Meeting House Hill; but with the passage of time less and less visited by the townsfolk. With time came its ravages and an increasing state of disrepair.

This writer has often visited the well house and felt its history. While much is gone, much still remains. Nothing remains of the church on its fair prospect; the views of the town no longer tops the tree-line, but the cemetery still testifies to the past, and the house of the first minister is still extant, although much changed. It is an experience worth having.

Finally, the town Historic Commission, seeing the need for action if the well house was to be saved, came to the rescue. Under its aegis the town meeting voted on April 1, 2000 to provide funds for its restoration. After delays contingent upon the cost of restoration, the work of rehabilitation was completed by Jim Whidden.

Today once again renewed, it stands atop Meeting House Hill a reminder of days gone by. If history is any testimony, it will remain a reminder well into the next century and beyond.

November 4th 2002

See the Hart House, a handsome two-over-two with a lower pitch lean-to for another example of steam bent shakes at intersecting roof planes.

Ashburnham Historical Society, Inc.