Jacob's Well: A Swimming Hole for Thrill Seekers in the Heart of Texas - Unusual Places (2024)

FAQs

Is it safe to swim in Jacob's Well? ›

Swimming at Jacob's Well is currently not permitted.

Jacob's Well is currently experiencing historically low water conditions that are unsafe for swimming. Please check back here for updates regarding the 2024 swim season.

When settlers first came upon Jacob's Well near Wimberley around 1850, they did not encounter a swimming hole. They discovered a magical fountain of beautifully clear water, 12 feet in diameter, sometimes spouting four or five feet above the surface. They named it Jacob's Well because of its Biblical magnificence.

According to the Houston Chronicle, at least 12 people have died trying to explore the treacherous waters, making it the prime haunting grounds for restless spirits who met a tragic end. None were certified cave divers with the proper equipment, said Gregg Tatum, Jacob's Well Exploration Project director.

Only permitted cave diving research professionals are now allowed to dive Jacob's Well. Their effort has charted the cave system to nearly 140 feet deep and almost a mile in length!

The fourth chamber is perhaps the most dangerous since it involves squeezing through a very narrow passageway. Two young Texas men were caught in one of the well's caves and drowned in 1979, another diver's remains were flushed out of the well in 1981, and there have been other fatalities until 2000.

In August, county officials and local advocacy groups said there was zero water flow at Jacob's Well — something that's happened only a handful of times in the past quarter-century. Jacob's Well has been closed to swimmers since June 2022 due to low water levels and other conditions that made swimming unsafe.

Jacob's Well is mentioned just once in the New Testament when in John's Gospel 4:5-14 we hear the story of a Samaritan woman from the town who went to the well to draw water. Here she met Jesus who surprised her by asking her to give Him a drink of water from the well.

About Jacob's Well

The settlers didn't dive into it, of course, but treated it instead as a drinking fountain and later used it to power a saw mill. They named it Jacob's Well because of its biblical magnificence. Since the well was discovered, at least 4,500 feet of it has been explored.

A fee is only required to swim in Jacob's Well. During peak hours the parking lot may reach capacity, at that time we will begin to turn away all visitors without reservations until there is more space available.

There is an unnamed woman described in Scripture as the woman from Samaria whom Jesus met at Jacob's well. Jesus had stopped there for a drink of water at about noon that day. Typically, the well would not be terribly busy in the heat of the day.

What did Jesus do at Jacob's well? ›

Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

Once a perennial spring that kept flowing even during extreme droughts, Jacob's Well has been drying up with increasing frequency over the last two decades thanks to drought and overpumping. Its new intermittency is a warning sign that the Trinity Aquifer is diminishing rapidly.

The other-worldly beauty of Jacob's Well—along with its year round water temperature of 68°F—makes it a popular swimming hole for hot Texas summers.

Jacob's Well is holy in Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Samaritan teachings. Tradition says it is where Jacob once camped 4,000 years ago, and where Jesus also passed through, holding a conversation with a Samaritan woman, after whom the church is named.

"...a narrow opening, just wide enough to allow the body of a man to pass through with arms uplifted, and this narrow neck, which is about 4 ft. long, opens into the well itself, which is cylindrically shaped, and opens about 7 ft. 6 in. in diameter.

HAYS COUNTY, Texas — Swimming has been temporarily suspended as of June 29 at Jacob's Well Natural Area with no set date of return. Hays County officials made the announcement a day prior, stating that the threat of bacteria and other pollutants, as well as poor visibility conditions, is too high.

Jacob's Well is named in the New Testament Gospel of John as the scene of Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman: So [Jesus] came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.

Jacob's Well is open to the public from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily. Hikers and other non-swimmers do not have to pay an entrance fee or make a reservation. However, they should arrive early as the park can reach capacity. Swimmers must pay a fee of $5 for children ages 5-12, $9 for adults, and $5 for seniors.

Jacob's Well is perhaps the longest underwater cave in Texas and an artesian spring that delivers several thousand gallons of water per minute. It acts as the headwaters to Cypress Creek that flows through Wimberley into Blue hole and then to the Blanco River.