There was an existing house on the property. I assume that the existing house had a cellar and a well. So why was a well being drilled and a foundation being dug out?
shareNo modern house of the time would have been built with the same footprint as the 19th-century home that it displaced and cellars of 1947 would have had to be at least another block higher than what was sufficient for the midgets of an earlier day.
shareMany old houses have a root cellar or crawlspace, not a full cellar and considering the condition of the rest of the house including shot sills and timbers and the pronounced lean, this one needed to be rebuilt from the bottom up. You wouldn't want to put a house on a foundation that was, for instance, stacked stones that had begun to shift. Even if it had a full cellar, and even if it did fit the house they planned to put on top, even if it were deep enough, it was probably wet from seepage because the stones were unmortared and/or because of settling and the high water table from the spring.
And as for the well, considering the derelict condition of the house indicating the possibility that nobody had lived there in the 20th century, there might never have been a well, just a spring, which over the years had become hidden from sight.
Never assume there is a usable well and a decent foundation when you are house hunting. :) This movie should be a cautionary tale.
Thank you joes119-1 and skiddoo for your knowledgable responses. It's been a while since I saw the movie. Would either of you have considered the house to be a tear-down?
shareDidn't the Realtor tell them it had spring water?
shareThe realtor told them there was a trout stream from which they could obtain [I assume] potable water. Said the realtor: "Virgin stand oak grove other side the trout stream there. The trout stream will give you your own pure, clear, cold mountain water."
So maybe they didn't need to dig that well in the first place?
Eric-1226, you are correct about the realtor, but later in the movie Muriel says something to the effect of, "that old, dried-up trout stream." Keeping in theme with the movie, perhaps it was not exactly as the realtor portrayed.
shareYou may have a point, and maybe I should watch the movie again, but I did find the script online, and I didn't find any mention or indication of a dried-up stream prior to them drilling for the well.
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