Many of the old southern plantations had underground cisterns, made of bric= k and lined with mortar and sealed. Other underground cisterns were simila= rly made.
Many wells, way back then, were not deep wells, so a well would often run d= ry, especially in the summer months, so collecting water for, mostly, utili= ty was common place. The underground cistern was the collection pot, if on= e didn't have a wooden aboveground one, which was fairly common for many so= uthern homes, also.
It was not uncommon for a cistern to spring a leak, so they had to be maint= ained, repaired and/or resealed every several years. When electricity came= along, for pumps, many of these cisterns were abandoned, but many were aba= ndoned when they began to leak too much, anyway. When the brick & mortar b= ecame too bad, dislodged, etc., folks just abandoned that cistern and built= a new one. Many of the old abandoned cisterns were then used for garbage = disposal. These old cisterns sites are a favorite place for bottle and oth= er collectors to search for old bottles, sometimes tools, old shoes... the = buckles are collector items, same with clothes buttons, and similar old rel= ics. =20
There's an old wives tale that you plant a fig tree over an abandoned ciste= rn... it'll grow very well and produce lots of figs. There is also specula= tive logic that this fig tree planting was more to prevent children from pl= aying near the abandoned hole area, a possible dangerous scenario if it was= to cave in. *Even today, children fall into abandoned holes, of some sort.
I would highy suspect your cistern will leak. You would need to inspect th= e cistern to find out just how bad it is and what needs to be done to repai= r it, if it can be reasonably repaired. Your best bet may be to install a = septic tank into the hole and back fill any extra cistern space.
Sonny