WELL..NOW THAT'S A DEEP SUBJECT!

The main floor of the house had a covered back porch that served as the main eating area for the Knight family for every day meals.  Betty Knight Wallace told about the huge table that was on this porch and how she was a little scared to eat there because a cistern was right behind the table.  She was afraid she would fall in.  Obviously the cat you see in the bottom of this cistern (right side) knew nothing about this story!
The cat story... Two different fraternities lived in our house at one time and had converted this back porch into a second kitchen.  After years of leaking plumbing, the floor was rotten.  We discovered the cistern after tearing out the floor.  Unfortunately, the cat discovered it the hard way.  After borrowing a 20' ladder from the hardware store (the cistern was that deep and at least 10' in diameter!), much chasing, and a little hand biting, we finally got the cat out.  Haven't seen him since.

The cistern was capped with a concrete cover at first.

More pix of the back porch/kitchen/mess...

Rick is working on our breakfast nook table.  He's making it from one of the original doors in the house.

The porch will be our breakfast area in about 9 months!

 And so it is!