Well water, memories flow freely at Old Cahawba after major restoration

Water and memories of merchant Edward Perine are flowing freely at Old Cahawba Park. 

A famous well that served the Perine mansion has been restored and the current generation of the Perine family presented a portrait and some mementos connected to the man known as the Merchant Prince of Cahawba to the park’s museum.  

In its day, the city of Cahawba was known for its artisan wells. One surviving well is the Perine Well that was at the back door of the Perine mansion. The Perine well was known as the largest well in the world in the 1850s. What’s left of the well is still running and is a major attraction at Old Cahawba Archaeological Park.  

For years, the Perine Well’s original well head – the iron structure containing the spout from which the water flowed – lay rusted on the ground in front of the Visitor’s Center at Old Cahawba.  

Dr. Jerry Dillard of Selma, Schley Rutherford of Mobile and George Kyser of Camden, all members of the Cahawba Society, realized the well head needed to be repaired. They got the ball rolling on the restoration project and provided funding for the work.  

The well head was sent to Robinson’s Iron Works in Alex City for restoration. Robinson is the company that restored the iron statue in that adorned Demopolis’ town square this year, and in 2000 and 2001 they restored the statue of Vulcan that stands atop Red Mountain in Birmingham.  

About the same time the well head was being restored, the great, great, great granddaughter of Edward Perine, Michelle Nauer, decided she had some artifacts that needed to go home to Cahawba.  

For nearly 200 years, a painting of Perine was passed down from one descendant to the next and has hung above generations of her family’s fireplaces. During the donation ceremony at Cahawba, Nauer explained her family calls the picture “the Great Edward.”  

Nauer said, “We always knew there was something special about the Great Edward. The Great Edward has watched my boys grow up.” But her grown sons Brendon and Mitchel Olin made it clear they weren’t interested in having “the Great Edward” adorn their fireplaces.  

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Brendon was a little more delicate. “What we said was we wanted him to go somewhere he would be appreciated and remembered,” he said. Nauer said she tried to rehome the portrait at the Perine Family Museum in New York, but that museum is dedicated to Edward’s grandparents. An historian at that museum sent Nauer’s email to the Alabama Historic Commission, who forwarded it to Linda Derry, site director and archaeologist at Old Cahawba Archaeological Park. 

“I was so excited when Michelle offered the painting and the artifacts to the park,” Derry said.  “She is so amazing to have something like this back in its home.” 

Nauer since has learned more about Cahawba history and how important her ancestor was to the town. Mitchel, standing at the well on the foundation of the Perine Mansion, said, “It was a real treat to finally trace our lineage back to this exact spot. And be able to figure out everything that came together for the painting.”  

“I am so touched,” Nauer said. “Mary Eliza, Edward’s wife and my great, great grandmother, is buried here. So, I was able to see her grave.” Perine and his second wife are buried in Pleasant Hill in Dallas County. Nauer said she visited his grave also.  

Nauer said she and her sons were very touched by the experience of coming to Cahawba to present the painting. “When I got here and saw how much history is here. And when Linda (Derry) told me she works for the Alabama Historical Commission, I knew this was the real thing,” Nauer said. 

Along with the painting, Nauer donated chairs and a writing desk that were in the Perine mansion. She also donated a Masonic pin and membership papers showing Edward was a member of the Masons at Cahawba.  

Perine came to Cahawba from Staten Island, New York in the early 1830s, according to Derry. She explained that Perine was married into the prominent Crocheron family, which was the family that built the state's first state house and became prominent merchants in Cahawba. Perine came to Cahawba to go into business with R.C. Crocheron as early as 1832. When Crocheron’s wife died, he went back to New York and sold his interest in the business to Perine. 

An in-depth interview with Michelle Nauer and Brandon and Mitchel Olin is at www.blackbeltnewsnetwork.com