Springhouses Were Once a Local Necessity

Spring houses were an important building on farms, large and small, in the past.  First, they protected the clean water supply from debris and animals.  Second, they provided natural refrigeration for meats, fruit, vegetables, milk, butter, cheese and other products that spoiled easily during hot weather. 

A dry-stacked fieldstone wall retains the bank
next to a large poured concrete spring box.

Rock, stone or concrete was used to line a natural spring or the water source was diverted to a suitable location where the spring house could be built.  Spring houses were often built into a bank or hillside in a shady location.  Larger spring houses may have had shelves, either of wood or stone, built into the walls.

Because they were constructed of stone rather than wood, spring houses have often survived long after other farm buildings disappered.   

Small spring box.

The most basic versions were a spring box built of stone around the water source and covered with a flat stone, concrete slab, tin or even wood.  Sometimes water was diverted or pumped to a concrete trough on a back or side porch.  Items were placed in the trough to stay cool.

1859 spring house of dry-stack field stone.

Possibly one of the oldest and finest spring houses in Transylvania County has the date “1859” carved in the stone lintel 
above its wood frame doorway.  The spring house is constructed of 


dry-stacked flat field stones that are mortared on the interior.  It has two louvered windows and a tin roof.   A trough running through the center is lined with flat rocks paving the floor on either side.  The water exited through a small hole at the back of the building.   There is also a large stone enclosure around the front of the building that appears to have had a roof at one time.

Spring tub created from an old bathtub. 

One of the more interesting is a spring trough inside a smokehouse.  River rock was used to face an old iron bathtub mostly inside the smokehouse.  A portion of the spring trough/tub projects through the exterior wall.  From the outside the tub faucets are visible, although the water comes from a spigot and pipe running down the side of the building.

The architectural survey of Transylvania County conducted in 1990 identified approximately 30 spring houses.  It’s certain there are many more scattered across the county.

The architectural survey files are available in the Local History Room at the Library.  Copies of Transylvania:  the Architectural History of a Mountain County are still available at the county’s Planning and Community Development department. 

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.