I grew up on a farm in a rural area just outside Macon, GA, where most of the water for cooking and drinking came from a well. My grandfather had erected a faucet near the backyard of our house – with plans, I assumed, of giving us running water.
He was never able to finish the project, so the faucet never worked. We had to walk to the well not far from the house, lower a bucket inside and draw it back up filled with cool fresh water. That well was functional, and likely our only wish as children was for the faucet to miraculously spew water so we wouldn’t have to haul it from the well.
At auction a week ago, I came upon a different type of well after I began wandering among the furniture and other large items. The auction itself had started to drag and I needed some relief. I came upon a wishing well that was almost as tall as me – I’m 5-8 – with a slanted roof, and painted brown.
It was the first I’d seen at auction, but it wasn’t the last. As I moved farther along, I came across another wishing well painted red. They were identical, indicating to me that they were not handmade by some industrious carver but likely commercially assembled. The handle did not turn on either of them.
I rounded both of them, looking at the construction and trying to figure out how to use them. The first answer that came to mind was “in the backyard or garden.” I later speculated on how to interestingly incorporate them into a yard:
As a planter. Set a big barrel on top of a stand inside the well and plant low-growing flowers.
As a home for birds. Attach a bird house under the roof.
As a bird feeder. Construct a feeder or water trough for birds.
As a spot to hold a container for beer and soft drinks at a party. If you throw summer parties in your backyard, you can set up your beverages in a tub inside the well. Or use it inside the house in a man cave for the same purpose.
As a decorative conversation piece. Be artistic yourself and decorate it, or have an artist friend to do it. It would be akin to those plaster cows and bears that arts groups paint and install in public places.
As a wishing well. Use the structure for its intended purpose. Have your party-goers make a wish and drop a dollar (not a quarter) into the wishing well and you donate the money to charity.
I didn’t even consider making a wish as I stood before the wishing wells at auction. If I had, my wish would be the same as many others: riches, good health and good sense.
Will it come true? Not likely, despite the saying that what you ask for in a wishing well will happen. The wells got that reputation centuries ago when the thinking was that water held deities, had healing powers and was a source of life – hence its ability to grant our wishes.
One of the most famous wishing wells today is not a well but a fountain: The Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy, where many a tourist has tossed a coin hoping the legend – that you’ll return to Rome one day – and any other wishes will come true. I’m sure I did when I visited the city some years ago.
This blogger offered a list of romantic wishing wells, including the Upwey Wishing Well in Dorset, England; a well at the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, and Disney’s Cinderella and Snow White Wishing Wells.
I found several portable wishing wells being sold at retail sites on the web for $90 to more than $1,200. One site encouraged you to make a wish at its mildly animated magic well, which didn’t do anything but sit there when you made a wish.
The wishing well that animated me was no more tangible than the magic one online. It was Terence Trent D’Arby’s 1987 song “Wishing Well,” his only No. 1 hit. I only remember the words “wishing well” in the song, and seeing the lyrics now, they don’t make much sense.
What would you wish for at a wishing well?
