This column is mainly for the reader over 60 years of age.
In our travels we have found a number of outhouses, especially in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming and the chain of mountains by Burlington, Vermont.
All of them usually have a cut-out on the entry door to be viewed from the outside. A crescent moon is for female while a star is for male usage.
If it was the only outhouse of a family, the door usually had a crescent moon.
Most outhouses were two-seaters with the two holes for different-sized behinds: the bigger one for adult bottoms and the smaller hole for kids. Many Korean and Vietnam veterans have seen latrines on the base of six or eight holes with three or four holes on each side as you entered the door with a star cut-out.
There are even a few two-story outhouses, mainly for larger families. The upper-floor outhouse would be a little farther back from the one below. The deposits from above would fall down a shaft behind the first-floor outhouse into the deposits from the lower outhouse. All of this type of outhouse had at least two holes each. The top story outhouse had a star cut-out and the bottom story outhouse had a crescent moon cut-out on the door. The reason being, bottom story outhouses were easier to get into and usually a little warmer with fewer flies, bugs and spiders. It could also be a special example of courtesy to attractive ladies!
An interesting thing about any outhouse was the “Open Door Policy.” (Very rarely was it locked, and if locked, from the inside only!)
With the passage of time, the toilet paper used has really changed. Free Sears and Roebuck catalog pages usage became softer newspaper pages and then softer white toilet paper as tissue of choice. Today, there are even many-colored tissues with designs and a message.
All outhouses are “portable” by simply cutting a hole in the ground a few feet away and moving the outhouse onto the new hole. Many an interesting, sometimes valuable item has been found in the former hole!
Interesting former or current outhouses to see are or were:
A. The Missouri History Museum has a photo of a three-story outhouse that served three families.
B. There used to be an outhouse at Pemberton, Minnesota where you could see the busy occupant.
C. A farmer-rancher among I-90 in South Dakota has a collection of outhouses – even a two-seater three-story outhouse.
D. Trenary, Michigan has an annual outhouse classic in which entrants push hilariously built outhouses across the snow.
E. The annual Fish House Parade, the day after Thanksgiving at Aitkin, Minnesota, always has an outhouse converted to a fish house.
F. In 1954 two Norwegian cousins on Halloween with a John Deere tractor and manure loader set an outhouse by the visiting dugout at the ball field in New Richland. They were 1954 graduates of New Richland High School with the last name ending in “-son.”
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.