One day while lost in that wonderful Alabama Mosaic database, trying to find my way out, I stumbled across this postcard photograph featuring an artesian well in Livingston, the county seat of Sumter County. The Encyclopedia of Alabama entry on the town discusses this well: "A lack of nearby water led most residents to settle close to one of the area's natural springs near what is now Livingston's Spring Street. In 1854, an artesian well, known today as the Bored Well, located on the Courthouse Square, was dug to supply water for the town. For most of the late nineteenth century, this artesian well water attracted visitors to the town for its supposed health benefits. In 1904, the town added a hand pump to the well and in 1928 installed an electric pump." The postmark as seen below indicates the card was mailed on July 19, 1907, so the pagoda was built prior to that date. In 1899 James Crook published his survey Mineral Waters of the United States, which has a state-by-state listing. Several are noted in Alabama; you can see the two-page entry on this artesian well below. I've also included larger versions of two excerpts of details about the well. Crook does not mention the pagoda, so perhaps it was built after 1899. Located on the courthouse square, the well is now known as the Bored Well. The wooden pagoda was replaced with a brick structure in 1924, which collapsed in 1999. A new pavilion was built in 2005. |
Source: Troy University Digital Collections via Alabama Mosaic
Epes is located on the Tombigbee River in east-central Sumter County and is named after a doctor, John W. Epes, who lived in the area and sold land for a railroad depot. Fort Tombecbe was built by the French on the site in 1735.
Source: Crook, Mineral Waters, pp90-91
Crook's Mineral Waters of the United States published in 1899 can be read at the Internet Archive.
Source: Waymarking.com
