About Outhouses
Outhouses, with a classic crescent moon or star cut-out on the door have been around for centuries. The cut-outs on outhouse doors served a dual purpose. One was to allow light to enter the dark outhouse as they had no windows or lights as electricity had yet to be invented. The other was the fact that illiteracy was prevalent at that time and the cut-out crescent moon symbol meant it was a ladies outhouse and the star cut-out symbol was for males. Many folk just left the outhouse door open due to the unpleasant smell, as outhouses usually faced away from the main house looking out on open fields or woods. Does this Spark an idea?
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Misconceptions
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Thomas Crapper was a master plumber, holding multiple patents for inventing plumbing products. However, he was not the inventor of the WC (Water Closet). Alexander Cummings was the first person to patent the siphonic flush, only to have his invention further developed years later by plumbers Joseph Bramah and Thomas Twyford.
History
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Outhouses first came into existence in Europe in the fifteenth century. Literacy was rare in that century. However, they devised a way to differentiate between the women's and the men's outhouses, by cutting out in the outhouse doors. A sun was for the men and a moon was for the women. Later, the symbol for men's outhouses became the star.
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Function
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Two-holer outhouses were not built to enable two people to use the bathroom at the same time. However, one hole was smaller than the other to enable children to use the bathroom without fear of falling into the mire. The largest outhouse with 12 holes was built to accommodate needy people at a hotel in Montana. As time went by, the hospitality trade reasoned that men's outhouses were no longer necessary, as most men went behind the nearest tree and ignored the outhouse completely.
Size
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The average size of an outhouse was about 4 feet square by 7 feet high. The actual pit where the waste descended was sometimes as much as 20 feet deep to prevent the outhouse being moved frequently and to save work. Two-story outhouses were invented as a modification of the two-holer where the upper floor's waste dropped down behind the wall of the lower floor's outhouse.
Identification
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Often somebody digging in a particular spot where long ago there stood an outhouse, will find that the soil is different, having been turned from human waste into rich compost. Not only this, but all kinds of treasures will be found on digging deeper down in that spot, as people back in the day used to throw all manner of interesting items down the outhouse, using is as a garbage dump. Many valuable items have been found while excavating these treasure-troves, such as valuable bottles, jewelry, old money, coins, spectacles, monocles, silverware and glassware.
Time Frame
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The outhouse was invented 500 years ago, and some outhouses in parts of the United States and other countries are still used daily by people without indoor plumbing. For the most part, the outhouse was replaced with the invention of indoor plumbing, or the water closet (WC)--much to the delight of the people who no longer had to brave cold winds in the middle of the night just to use the bathroom.
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