Update to "In Search of a Well"

I wrote a narrative back in 2010 when I first started looking for a well that appeared in my parents' wedding photo. I returned to Mulhouse in April of 2023 and searched again.

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Update

I asked everyone in town…the baker, the cheesemonger, the old lady crossing the street. Still no luck. At that point I had given up all hope that I would ever find it. I assumed it was taken down. I felt the search was finished, but, in my heart, not abandoned.

A month after returning home, it was still tugging at me. Where is that well?! Then, a thought. I could reach out on one of my Facebook groups, Expats in Alsace. I posted the picture and a cry for help.

Two members suggested it looked like a well in Reunion, an island owned by France east of Madagascar. I knew my parents had never been there. Most members wished me luck in finding the well but had no idea where it was located.

But one member, Serge, posted a definite “In Thann near Mulhouse” and even shared a recent photo. I compared the well in my old photo with the one in his and studied the building facades. That was it! Serge had located it! 

Finally in April of 2025, we returned to Alsace, rented a car, and made our way to Thann. After an hour’s drive, we only needed to venture a few blocks into the small, unassuming town when….there it was. The well! 

It wasn’t grand. Standing near a bakery and pharmacy while locals casually strolled by, it was not spotlighted for tourists or fenced off. Just quietly existing in the middle of the sidewalk. Waiting for me. 

I stood by the well, touching its worn stones, noticing the date 1827 etched into its frame letting it all sink in. I thought of my parents, my childhood, the search for the well, and I choked up a bit. In that moment, standing in front of the well, I not only felt connected to my parents but I now shared a special memory with them. Part of their story had now become part of mine.