Deep subject
Posted 08/18/06
Steve Thompson of Rivanna Archaeological Services LLC and Mark Stephen Kutney (right), an architectural conservator with the University architect’s office,
examine the cistern found near Pavilion III.
Photo by Dan Addison.
Workers replacing water pipes near the Lawn unearthed a cistern that supplied water to Lawn and Pavilion dwellers during the 19th century.
The cistern would have been used until around the 1890s, collecting rainwater from two or three adjacent buildings, said Ben Ford, an archaeologist who has extensive experience with sites at the University.
Ford’s excavation turned up a small bottle labeled Florida Water, made by Lazell, Dalley & Co., a chemist and perfumery in business between 1887 and 1890, and a stamped-metal acanthus leaf, an architectural decoration from Pavilion III.
The cylindrical cistern was dug into bedrock because it had to be close to the buildings it serviced. Archaeologists found small, underground brick tunnels, lined with hydraulic mortar, that carried rainwater from roof downspouts to the cistern. When the Academical Village was designed, water was to be supplied from springs and a dammed holding pond on Observatory Hill, which Jefferson purchased for that purpose. The water was carried to Grounds via wooden pipe with iron couplings, which presented a variety of problems with supply and pressure. The cisterns would have been part of Jefferson’s plan for water-collecting at the University Grounds.
