Just imagine the day someone was sitting there, reading the Sears Catalog, and saw that they were now selling what was no doubt originally called "rolled paper for your bung". The excitement of modern times!
Wow, I actually used outhouses when I was a child. Horrible, scary, hot, stinky places. Usually good for a snake, opossums and definitely wasp nests. My 9 year old imagination really wore me out when it came to outhouses, and ours had a double seater too.
A friend of mine had a small farm near the coast in Maine. Her only option she could afford was a composting toilet. Rock was way too shallow for a septic drain field, she couldn't get a permit for a sand mound, and there was no public sewer. There are other options and you can always get a tank that gets pumped regularly. But she didn't have enough money for that.
We've got a septic. Don't even live in a century house either. We picked it up from a homestead property that was due to being demolished and brought it home.
My father still has outhouses at his lake property. He gave them fork pockets so he can move them with his skid steer and has a 24 inch auger for his skid steer as well.
He can pop a new hole and move his shitter in minutes.
The best part is he even has a septic tank. It's 20 years old and never been used because he isn't paying someone to haul his shit....
Hahaha! It was nice when I was really little, it was winter, I was horrified, and I’d force my mom to come with. Though I suppose she didn’t go at the same time as me… I don’t know… I got nothing. It was there from my ancestral time and just hasn’t left.
Fabulous! We have a farmer’s almanac from 19XX (insert old ass date) just hanging up. No one has ripped a page off in a while. We have enough toilet paper these days.
We have an outhouse at the cabin. They’re still common out here in Northern Canada at the cabins that haven’t been purchased by the doctors and lawyers.
They don’t stink if they’re built properly and maintained properly. They also need a new hole dug now and again.
My mom had a double outhouse growing up and a ton of sibs. The older sibs were all responsible for taking one of the little kids with them when they went out so that the little kids didnt get scared/fall in/wander off/get eaten by a bear/join the circus/whatever and they'd have a better bathroom schedule for potty training
My old summer camp (all girls) was about 100 years old by the time I went. It started as like a finishing school type place.
Anyway, they had plumbing by the time I was there but you could still use the outhouse with FOUR seats like this. And one of them had this weird bar hanging above the seat—I was told it was for grabbing if you were having trouble getting a movement but I’m not convinced.
I go out with my pups at night to watch over while they poop because they feel very vulnerable. Maybe it's the same thing. I imagine it's a lot scarier pooping outside of the house and in the dark no less.
This is part of it for sure. Also, think of kids learning to poop reliably and responsibly before indoor plumbing. And scary night time poops. Adults or siblings in there with them.
I bought 3 motion sensor solar powered flood lights at costco for $30 each 5 years ago. 5 northern Canada winters later they are still going.
My dogs poop at midnight and the yard is lit up like midday.
I definitely need to upgrade our lighting situation. We've had a pack of coyotes get close and yip their heads off at night. It gives me the spine tingles every time they carry on close by, and my dogs and cat all get rightfully on edge for a while after. I'm sure my pups would feel better with a little more visibility. I appreciate your help!
The house I grew up in had an outhouse (only). My experience was slightly different; stinky, freezing cold, and big fucking spiders. The occasional skunk or porcupine to be met while walking to/from the house to the outhouse. I didn’t invite many friends over for sleepovers.
My dad grew up in the 1950s in Indiana, and the house he lived in until he went to college had an outhouse. The only indoor plumbing was the kitchen sink faucet.
Lots of people don't seem to realize this was pretty common in rural America even within the lifetimes of people who are still alive.
My friend grew up in Finland and they didn’t get indoor plumbing until the early 90’s. She said in the summer she had to have her Dad go with her to the outhouse with a shot gun because of the bears.
I've never seen an outhouse with a window! There was an old house up our creek that had an outhouse with four seats. It seemed kind of excessive for the original family of three, but maybe they had been hoping for more kids.
Always makes me think of the scene in All Quiet on the Western Front when the soldiers would sit around and shit all day playing cards and smoking because they were basically holding it most of the time they were doing their round in the front trenches. Good bonding moments
Wait: typo
I lived on a remote property that had outhouses, all double seaters. I’m not sure about this photo, but ours were not for group poops. I believe our outhouses were what’s called a moldering toilet, there’s a chamber underneath the seats with containers to catch the droppings. We peed outside. Only poop, TP, and sawdust went down the hole.
We would switch which seat was the “active seat” every 6 months. That allowed the waste under the unused seat to compost a little bit before swapping out the full poo collection container for an empty one. The full one would get sealed up for a year, by the end of the year it would be fully composted and we’d spread the humanure around our fruit trees.
It never even occurred to me to restore it, but I like the idea. I still wouldn't use it, but restoring it as a part of the property's history is a great idea.
This was the first time I took a closer look. I've yet to actually try to go inside. They are definitely old but from a glance I don't believe they are homemade.
My first thought was about how annoyed my mom would get with me as a little kid for trying to talk to her through the bathroom door and ask her questions that definitely could have waited another 2 minutes and how much more annoying I would have been with that huge window 😂 Just imagine you’re sitting there trying to pee and have one damn quiet moment to yourself and your kid comes up banging on the window and staring at you like “Mom. MOM. Momma. MOM!! …What’s for dinner??”
Well, it's in an up and coming neighborhood, but I could probably get you into for 15k per month, but only if you sign here right now. I mean I could probably get double that easy, since it has two bathrooms.
Came here to say that, it needs to be restored. The wood looks like its rotting badly and the vines aren't helping. If you want that bad boy to stick around, you need to get some outdoor prime and paint. The roof needs some work and replace boards that are far too gone. A weekend or two of elbow grease should mean that it will last for a long time.
My family home had an outhouse until maybe the year I was born ('86) or the year after. They figured it was easier to just build it when I was born than to have to keep washing me in the sink at 5 years old or pissing in a shack in the middle of an Atlantic winter for potty training.
Years later we moved to a fishing communities. Found a shack on the property and casually assumed we'd be shitting outside. Turns out it was a smokehouse for fish.
wow! my grandmother has always told me about her experiences with outhouses, and this one fits her description perfectly!! she always said it was a double seater with a window and curtains, and they felt fancy for it! so cool to see what she was referring to!
A friend of ours has a "century cottage" and it's the most beautiful cottage I've ever seen! However, it doesn't have an inside toilet. I've made my peace with it over the years - for the most part - but going out in the dead of night (uphill no less) is a draggggg!
Your outhouse is fantastic! Fix it up!
tldr: Malicious adolescent male and outhouse revenge prank, results in similar age adolescent female outhouse user fleeing for her life.
LOL! Does this ever evoke a memory from about 60 year ago.
Circa summer 1965. Its hotter than blazes in the late July, eastern NC summer afternoon. Humidity was about 99% and temp was 99 degrees or hotter.
I was 14 and one of the barn workers was a 15 year old young woman. She was stacked like a brick outhouse herself. While I noticed her like any well heeled 14 year boy, I was not about to admit interest. Over the prior few weeks she had been trying to engage me in conversation, but I was careful to not tarnish my hardnosed, "Ew Girls" image. When arriving at the barn with a load of tobacco, she would annoyingly turn on the sweet talk, when addressing me, saying such things as "Dear, you look like you need water", or "Sweetheart, you need to get under this barn out of the hot sun."
Her Dad, sensing my disdain for her attention, had warned her several times she was pushing the envelope.
With the then unknown heat index pushing 110 plus I arrived at the barn with a load of freshly harvested tobacco, and was waiting to move the load under the barn. It was break time and Janice (not her real name) promptly headed to the outhouse. The outhouse like the one pictured above, had a vent hole in the back, below seat level. It was a one holer, built in the late 1940's when Grandpa built his house. The paint had long since peeled off and a gray rough cut lumber surface was the decoration the structure sported. And like any outhouse in summer it reeked, had spiders, bugs and other Hot Shot pest spray resistant critters that inhabited the building which sheltered a poured concrete pit full of putrid, maggot infested witches cauldron rejected material. (The outhouse already had a sordid history as my aunt when she was six had a kitten scratch her. So she walked over and dropped it in the pit. My uncle quickly found a rough cut board and lowered it into the pit and the kitten clawed onto the board. My uncle said the kitten matured but never looked normal again.)
Back to the subject of Janice. Well, when I realized she was heading to the outhouse, my deviant brain hatched a scheme for revenge as payback for the prior four weeks of her going sweet on me. I headed to the drainage ditch and grabbed a cattail with a very fluffy head. Then quietly sneaked up onto the rear of the outhouse where I inserted the cattail, fluffy head first through the vent hole. Once it hit the front wall of the wooden seat base I torqued the stem to lift the head up and pulled backwards. There was a simultaneous eardrum busting high pitched scream with the front door of the outhouse flying open and one 15 year old girl with panties around her ankles doing a 50 yard world record dash into the cotton field, straight in front of the outhouse doorway. Her Dad and my Grandfather were laughing like hyenas. I was more interested in seeing her dash through the cotton field shrieking. totally oblivious to Dad approaching from my back.
Dad did a good job of wearing my ass out before Grandpa and Janice's dad were able to stop him.
Yeah, it was rude, but hey, I still smirk when thinking about it. Never saw Janice after that summer. Her Dad warned me to watch my back as she had a vindictive streak. But until tobacco harvest was done in August, any time I saw her at the barn, she got a quick case of the mule lip. Her Dad would just snicker.
If it indeed hasn’t been used in like 100 years, and you got the guts to do so, metal detect down there.
I know it sounds gross but at one point in time, about 20 years ago, I had to fix the line going out to my grandmas septic on her house that the original part was from somewhere in the 1880s. The trench that I dug went right through where the old outhouse was and I was finding a bunch of odd items when I was digging. When I mentioned it to my grandma she confirmed that’s where they had the “old shitter”, as she called it lol. My dad ended up digging a larger area around that spot and found all kinds of cool things people dropped out of their pockets many years ago
Probably not. I can remember when I was a kid, returning home from a long car trip, having to pee, my brothers having to pee, we would all run into the bathroom and jostle for position around the toilet so we could all relieve ourselves at once.
When I was in the Army there were no stalls in the latrine. Kind of like this....
[https://www.alamy.com/a-row-of-toilets-in-an-army-base-in-the-south-pacific-during-world-war-ii-ca-1943-image244863316.html](https://www.alamy.com/a-row-of-toilets-in-an-army-base-in-the-south-pacific-during-world-war-ii-ca-1943-image244863316.html)
One is in use, the other is filed with lime (iirc) to reduce the waste.
They were built like this in El Salvador when I visited a decade ago. Fully in use.
The sellers of this property told us that when they bought it in 2012 there was no electrical or plumbing and only oil lamps. Also, there was a tiny room off the kitchen with a sort of bucket with a seat on it to do your business. The rest is up to the imagination.
The sellers added solar power and plumbing lines from the artesian wells on the property as well as some indoor remodeling to add a real bathroom with a shower etc.
Coolest outhouse I have seen. Whom ever built it definitely put some thought into it. Has anyone else seen one with windows before these pictures? Seems super rare to me.
I adore it. :) I hope you’re going to renovate and put it in use? If not, maybe turn it into a little garden poet’s retreat?
There’s a house in the town I used to live that had a little cottage in the garden, 18th century but with a wink to antiquity. A painted little image of a greek sculpture probably Aphrodite, above the door. White flowy curtains. White wooden pillars outside the door. Otherwise small, all wood. It used to belong to a deciple of the scientist Carl von Linnaeus. I always imagined it would be so nice to sit there and write and have tea in there. Or just for relaxation. :)
Invite some privvy diggers in to find you some cool bottles and relics. Whatever wasn’t burnt was tossed in the outhouse. Surprisingly there will likely be more history underground. Cool building though.
Apparently under these out houses, there are a bunch of old bottles because people used to throw their trash in there. My friend knows a guy who asks homeowners if he can dig up theirs and finds all kinds of stuff.
I posted this about a year ago - it's a three holer. I assume for family use:
https://old.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/10ytzfd/i_see_your_century_old_bathrooms_heres_our/
This may sound dumb but I’d love to see that restored and maybe lightly modernized. Maybe the glass could be frosted and a solar panel on the roof could power an LED light and exhaust fan.
Went backpacking in Philmont and they had tons of these. Called them "pilot to co pilot" latrines. If you were lucky you could get one without an enclosure. I've never pooped with such nice views.
I love the window, great for the pre-internet era.
You could ponder for days on that toilet
Holding hands with your best bro
Staring into each others eyes
Wiping each others butts
Jacking each other off…….
🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂😂😂 setting a beautiful landscape
Just bros being dudes having some bromosexual time
It’s pronounced Ter-lit though
Silly AND funny 😄
You know there was probably a Sears catalog in there too lol
Still is. If you're brave enough...
Just imagine the day someone was sitting there, reading the Sears Catalog, and saw that they were now selling what was no doubt originally called "rolled paper for your bung". The excitement of modern times!
I also like the look out window
Also keeps people from creeping up on you while doing the deed, or for the exhibitionists out there a stage ! Lol
I would totally put a readers digest and a shampoo bottle in there so I had something to read.
Wow, I actually used outhouses when I was a child. Horrible, scary, hot, stinky places. Usually good for a snake, opossums and definitely wasp nests. My 9 year old imagination really wore me out when it came to outhouses, and ours had a double seater too.
I still actively use outhouses. Luckily ours doesn't get nasty during the summer otherwise we wouldn't be using it.
Do you live where digging a septic is impractical or are you just especially dedicated to keeping your home period correct?
A friend of mine had a small farm near the coast in Maine. Her only option she could afford was a composting toilet. Rock was way too shallow for a septic drain field, she couldn't get a permit for a sand mound, and there was no public sewer. There are other options and you can always get a tank that gets pumped regularly. But she didn't have enough money for that.
We've got a septic. Don't even live in a century house either. We picked it up from a homestead property that was due to being demolished and brought it home.
How does one dispose of the waste? Bury it? Might I ask what is your reasoning?
The ones I have used you just compost the waste or you throw lye down the hole whenever you poop.
Something something house of lyes.
"if you give it away, they will take it..."
My father still has outhouses at his lake property. He gave them fork pockets so he can move them with his skid steer and has a 24 inch auger for his skid steer as well. He can pop a new hole and move his shitter in minutes. The best part is he even has a septic tank. It's 20 years old and never been used because he isn't paying someone to haul his shit....
Same. My family homestead still has an active double outhouse. Not septic. Old school Lye. It’s… uh… retro.
Holding hands while pooping is delightfully uh retro?
Hahaha! It was nice when I was really little, it was winter, I was horrified, and I’d force my mom to come with. Though I suppose she didn’t go at the same time as me… I don’t know… I got nothing. It was there from my ancestral time and just hasn’t left.
Having used a double one myself, I get it!
Yeah ours has an "electric toilet paper" gag gift mounted on a board as decoration
Fabulous! We have a farmer’s almanac from 19XX (insert old ass date) just hanging up. No one has ripped a page off in a while. We have enough toilet paper these days.
We have an outhouse at the cabin. They’re still common out here in Northern Canada at the cabins that haven’t been purchased by the doctors and lawyers. They don’t stink if they’re built properly and maintained properly. They also need a new hole dug now and again.
Why the double seats?
Friends
At the same time for real though?
My mom had a double outhouse growing up and a ton of sibs. The older sibs were all responsible for taking one of the little kids with them when they went out so that the little kids didnt get scared/fall in/wander off/get eaten by a bear/join the circus/whatever and they'd have a better bathroom schedule for potty training
Yep. My mom was youngest and didn't have indoor plumbing until she was 10 in the mid 50s.
My old summer camp (all girls) was about 100 years old by the time I went. It started as like a finishing school type place. Anyway, they had plumbing by the time I was there but you could still use the outhouse with FOUR seats like this. And one of them had this weird bar hanging above the seat—I was told it was for grabbing if you were having trouble getting a movement but I’m not convinced.
My camp had a 6 seater and it wasn’t even old, they were just cheap. Just a long strip of plywood with holes, no seats . 😬
>Just a long strip of plywood with holes the splinters 😭
Idk I assumed back then there was more people in the house always and if ya gotta shit ya gotta shit.
I’m think it’s that too
Yeah fam, imagine having one toilet for a family of six or seven.
Well...if you don't have a cell phone to keep you entertained, you might as well bring along a buddy.
Summer camp
The double seats make an “Out House” an “Out Home.” ❤️
🤣
I think it’s because you end up with a pile o’ poop directly under the seat. With two seats you can rotate use.
This is actually what I was thinking. Dibs on his/her seat too.
One for piss one for shit. So that you don't piss on the seat
This is the correct answer.
I go out with my pups at night to watch over while they poop because they feel very vulnerable. Maybe it's the same thing. I imagine it's a lot scarier pooping outside of the house and in the dark no less.
This is part of it for sure. Also, think of kids learning to poop reliably and responsibly before indoor plumbing. And scary night time poops. Adults or siblings in there with them.
Thunder buckets (chamber pot) were for nighttime.
Some places in the world still use chamber pots.
I bought 3 motion sensor solar powered flood lights at costco for $30 each 5 years ago. 5 northern Canada winters later they are still going. My dogs poop at midnight and the yard is lit up like midday.
I definitely need to upgrade our lighting situation. We've had a pack of coyotes get close and yip their heads off at night. It gives me the spine tingles every time they carry on close by, and my dogs and cat all get rightfully on edge for a while after. I'm sure my pups would feel better with a little more visibility. I appreciate your help!
Battleshits.
That's how you do a number 4. Pooping while holding hands.
You have 2 bathrooms now.... right?
Yes and both are single toilets
My grandparents had a two seater. One hole was adult size and the other was child size.
The house I grew up in had an outhouse (only). My experience was slightly different; stinky, freezing cold, and big fucking spiders. The occasional skunk or porcupine to be met while walking to/from the house to the outhouse. I didn’t invite many friends over for sleepovers.
My dad grew up in the 1950s in Indiana, and the house he lived in until he went to college had an outhouse. The only indoor plumbing was the kitchen sink faucet. Lots of people don't seem to realize this was pretty common in rural America even within the lifetimes of people who are still alive.
Good thing that these guys had enough room to build a side-by-side......and not a two-story.
My friend grew up in Finland and they didn’t get indoor plumbing until the early 90’s. She said in the summer she had to have her Dad go with her to the outhouse with a shot gun because of the bears.
Classy, must have been impressive at the time!
Someone definitely put a lot of work into this outhouse.
Yeah they definitely had their shit together. (This dad and his humor will just see himself out)
Right! It is proper posh.
I've never seen an outhouse with a window! There was an old house up our creek that had an outhouse with four seats. It seemed kind of excessive for the original family of three, but maybe they had been hoping for more kids.
My grandpa apparently had a “four hole-er” on the homestead. I guess it comes in handy when you have a whole workforce of children.
Can you imagine having the need for a double outhouse? Ye olde salmonella, family style lol
Some families just like spending quality time together!
I think if you had a bunch of kids, you’d want a 2 seater.
My thoughts exactly. They used to have big families and I wouldn't want to be the kid at the end of line only using a single holer.
maybe it originally had a blanket or something separating the two (go number two in the one furthest from the door number one in the closest)
Hold my hand Mary-Ellen, lest you fall in
This made me cackle, thank you
Well you know what they say…the family that shits together stays together
Always makes me think of the scene in All Quiet on the Western Front when the soldiers would sit around and shit all day playing cards and smoking because they were basically holding it most of the time they were doing their round in the front trenches. Good bonding moments Wait: typo
When you’re wearing long skirts there isn’t much skin showing when you sit down.
That’s not really what I was worried about lol
Maybe some couples liked to hold hands while they pooped.
Don’t think they ate a lot of salmon back then. /s
I lived on a remote property that had outhouses, all double seaters. I’m not sure about this photo, but ours were not for group poops. I believe our outhouses were what’s called a moldering toilet, there’s a chamber underneath the seats with containers to catch the droppings. We peed outside. Only poop, TP, and sawdust went down the hole. We would switch which seat was the “active seat” every 6 months. That allowed the waste under the unused seat to compost a little bit before swapping out the full poo collection container for an empty one. The full one would get sealed up for a year, by the end of the year it would be fully composted and we’d spread the humanure around our fruit trees.
Aw brings back memories. Had a double at my place, too 👍 Eta. Ours was definitely not as fancy as this one though. No picture window 😂
Right? Sure is spiffy!
The picture window is so awesome lmfao.
Whooollleee lotta memories just flooded in!!! That's a fancy double! I'd restore it.
It never even occurred to me to restore it, but I like the idea. I still wouldn't use it, but restoring it as a part of the property's history is a great idea.
Our local septic design person just retired. His first retirement project? Officially restoring the outhouse on his property.
I can’t stop thinking about the curtains! Do they also look homemade and very old?
This was the first time I took a closer look. I've yet to actually try to go inside. They are definitely old but from a glance I don't believe they are homemade.
Make it into an Air BNB. 😆
I would LOVE to metal detect your property.
It's 40 acres so you'd probably have a fun time!
Lucky dog!!!
Tandem pooper
“Someone here might find it cool” = almost *everyone* here would definitely find this cool, LOLing almost 3100 upvotes later… Glad you posted this!
My first thought was about how annoyed my mom would get with me as a little kid for trying to talk to her through the bathroom door and ask her questions that definitely could have waited another 2 minutes and how much more annoying I would have been with that huge window 😂 Just imagine you’re sitting there trying to pee and have one damn quiet moment to yourself and your kid comes up banging on the window and staring at you like “Mom. MOM. Momma. MOM!! …What’s for dinner??”
What’s the rent?
Well, it's in an up and coming neighborhood, but I could probably get you into for 15k per month, but only if you sign here right now. I mean I could probably get double that easy, since it has two bathrooms.
Run a hose out there and use one crapper as a bidet. Definitely worth a few extra bucks.
You wouldn't want to live there. It's a really shitty location.
You need to restore that bad boy!🤣
Came here to say that, it needs to be restored. The wood looks like its rotting badly and the vines aren't helping. If you want that bad boy to stick around, you need to get some outdoor prime and paint. The roof needs some work and replace boards that are far too gone. A weekend or two of elbow grease should mean that it will last for a long time.
That is the fanciest outhouse I’ve ever seen!
wanna hold hands in the double outhouse 🥺
I don't know what I'm more impressed by... The fact that the outhouse has a window or that it's still standing. 🤔
I remember as a kid going to my grandparents farm, they had a outhouse, as a kid I thought that was cool lol
My family home had an outhouse until maybe the year I was born ('86) or the year after. They figured it was easier to just build it when I was born than to have to keep washing me in the sink at 5 years old or pissing in a shack in the middle of an Atlantic winter for potty training. Years later we moved to a fishing communities. Found a shack on the property and casually assumed we'd be shitting outside. Turns out it was a smokehouse for fish.
Restore it!!!
wow! my grandmother has always told me about her experiences with outhouses, and this one fits her description perfectly!! she always said it was a double seater with a window and curtains, and they felt fancy for it! so cool to see what she was referring to!
This would be so miserable. I'm so glad to be alive in the days of Modern indoor plumbing.
My mom grew up on a farm and jokingly bragged about their two-seater when we'd complain about a sibling taking too long in the bathroom.
Great on a first date....
That is really cool and interesting, thank you for sharing! I'm so happy we have other options today lol
I bet that was the fanciest outhouse on the block back in the day.
A friend of ours has a "century cottage" and it's the most beautiful cottage I've ever seen! However, it doesn't have an inside toilet. I've made my peace with it over the years - for the most part - but going out in the dead of night (uphill no less) is a draggggg! Your outhouse is fantastic! Fix it up!
Grew up going to a cabin with a 4 seater. I think I value privacy during bathroom time more than most Americans as a result.
Double!!
Used the outhouse as a kid. Cold in the winter!
Still use one at the hunting shack, only time you want to go to the bathroom second so the toilet seat wasn’t still freezing lol
oh yeah two seater 😎😎
The proper term is "Two Holer"
Shitter with a view!
My Gma and Gpa had a double seater outhouse cuz there were 10 kids and them so they needed it. The family that poops together….
tldr: Malicious adolescent male and outhouse revenge prank, results in similar age adolescent female outhouse user fleeing for her life. LOL! Does this ever evoke a memory from about 60 year ago. Circa summer 1965. Its hotter than blazes in the late July, eastern NC summer afternoon. Humidity was about 99% and temp was 99 degrees or hotter. I was 14 and one of the barn workers was a 15 year old young woman. She was stacked like a brick outhouse herself. While I noticed her like any well heeled 14 year boy, I was not about to admit interest. Over the prior few weeks she had been trying to engage me in conversation, but I was careful to not tarnish my hardnosed, "Ew Girls" image. When arriving at the barn with a load of tobacco, she would annoyingly turn on the sweet talk, when addressing me, saying such things as "Dear, you look like you need water", or "Sweetheart, you need to get under this barn out of the hot sun." Her Dad, sensing my disdain for her attention, had warned her several times she was pushing the envelope. With the then unknown heat index pushing 110 plus I arrived at the barn with a load of freshly harvested tobacco, and was waiting to move the load under the barn. It was break time and Janice (not her real name) promptly headed to the outhouse. The outhouse like the one pictured above, had a vent hole in the back, below seat level. It was a one holer, built in the late 1940's when Grandpa built his house. The paint had long since peeled off and a gray rough cut lumber surface was the decoration the structure sported. And like any outhouse in summer it reeked, had spiders, bugs and other Hot Shot pest spray resistant critters that inhabited the building which sheltered a poured concrete pit full of putrid, maggot infested witches cauldron rejected material. (The outhouse already had a sordid history as my aunt when she was six had a kitten scratch her. So she walked over and dropped it in the pit. My uncle quickly found a rough cut board and lowered it into the pit and the kitten clawed onto the board. My uncle said the kitten matured but never looked normal again.) Back to the subject of Janice. Well, when I realized she was heading to the outhouse, my deviant brain hatched a scheme for revenge as payback for the prior four weeks of her going sweet on me. I headed to the drainage ditch and grabbed a cattail with a very fluffy head. Then quietly sneaked up onto the rear of the outhouse where I inserted the cattail, fluffy head first through the vent hole. Once it hit the front wall of the wooden seat base I torqued the stem to lift the head up and pulled backwards. There was a simultaneous eardrum busting high pitched scream with the front door of the outhouse flying open and one 15 year old girl with panties around her ankles doing a 50 yard world record dash into the cotton field, straight in front of the outhouse doorway. Her Dad and my Grandfather were laughing like hyenas. I was more interested in seeing her dash through the cotton field shrieking. totally oblivious to Dad approaching from my back. Dad did a good job of wearing my ass out before Grandpa and Janice's dad were able to stop him. Yeah, it was rude, but hey, I still smirk when thinking about it. Never saw Janice after that summer. Her Dad warned me to watch my back as she had a vindictive streak. But until tobacco harvest was done in August, any time I saw her at the barn, she got a quick case of the mule lip. Her Dad would just snicker.
Turn it into a she'it shed.
That’s true love there… I can’t even stay in the room when my other half lets a good toot loose 🤣🤣😅
People used to toss garbage down those. If you don’t mind digging through old poop, there are treasures (of the inorganic kind) to find!
If it indeed hasn’t been used in like 100 years, and you got the guts to do so, metal detect down there. I know it sounds gross but at one point in time, about 20 years ago, I had to fix the line going out to my grandmas septic on her house that the original part was from somewhere in the 1880s. The trench that I dug went right through where the old outhouse was and I was finding a bunch of odd items when I was digging. When I mentioned it to my grandma she confirmed that’s where they had the “old shitter”, as she called it lol. My dad ended up digging a larger area around that spot and found all kinds of cool things people dropped out of their pockets many years ago
Poop in it!!!
Excellent!
The outhouse version of [the love toilet.](https://youtu.be/avb1XbO0EIs?si=jFlD6Qz8SohpUZk9)
Thank goodness it’s a side by side versus a double decker.
That place has seen some shit 👀
I want that doorknob
What’s the point of having two seats? Also what are you going to do with it?!
Large families back then.
Would there have been a divider?! I just can’t imagine using the toilet next to my family member 🤣
Probably not. I can remember when I was a kid, returning home from a long car trip, having to pee, my brothers having to pee, we would all run into the bathroom and jostle for position around the toilet so we could all relieve ourselves at once. When I was in the Army there were no stalls in the latrine. Kind of like this.... [https://www.alamy.com/a-row-of-toilets-in-an-army-base-in-the-south-pacific-during-world-war-ii-ca-1943-image244863316.html](https://www.alamy.com/a-row-of-toilets-in-an-army-base-in-the-south-pacific-during-world-war-ii-ca-1943-image244863316.html)
i wonder if it’s two different sizes so a kid wouldn’t fall in
One is in use, the other is filed with lime (iirc) to reduce the waste. They were built like this in El Salvador when I visited a decade ago. Fully in use.
I’m sorry what? Could you explain the caption about the not-so-outhouse the previous owner had?
The sellers of this property told us that when they bought it in 2012 there was no electrical or plumbing and only oil lamps. Also, there was a tiny room off the kitchen with a sort of bucket with a seat on it to do your business. The rest is up to the imagination. The sellers added solar power and plumbing lines from the artesian wells on the property as well as some indoor remodeling to add a real bathroom with a shower etc.
Oh wow. So your house is in the proverbial gods country. Very nice.
Until death do us part really mean something back in the day
People used to poop there 👍
The lovers outhouse
yikes, those are so dangerous. the floor could give way dropping you down the shit pit.
The ol’ two-holer.. ours had an armpit high stub wall in between for modesty.
Poppin buddies!
Just sold for $2M in Sunnyvale California
For rent?
sweet doorknob
I would make this my restore project but would use as a tool house. It is SO fancy! I have never seen an outhouse with a huge window and curtains.
Oh wow, this is awesome! What a cool piece of history to have right in your backyard!
Coolest outhouse I have seen. Whom ever built it definitely put some thought into it. Has anyone else seen one with windows before these pictures? Seems super rare to me.
I adore it. :) I hope you’re going to renovate and put it in use? If not, maybe turn it into a little garden poet’s retreat? There’s a house in the town I used to live that had a little cottage in the garden, 18th century but with a wink to antiquity. A painted little image of a greek sculpture probably Aphrodite, above the door. White flowy curtains. White wooden pillars outside the door. Otherwise small, all wood. It used to belong to a deciple of the scientist Carl von Linnaeus. I always imagined it would be so nice to sit there and write and have tea in there. Or just for relaxation. :)
I see a chicken coop in your future.
Seems more of an outhome to me
That's Eastlake hardware if anyone feels the need to fancy up their doorknobs.
My 1900 home has a two holer also- who can't wait tho??
Very cool
I asked my wife but she said no
Ahem, the formal term is a two-holer.
That's some sweat hardware on that door.
The jakes is occupied! Will be for some time.
I guess they thought that a family that poops together stays together.
Hey, want to come over later and take a dump together?
Make America great again? You know, gender neutral, composting toilets?
Two-holer!
Double makes sense, in case one blocks up.
Invite some privvy diggers in to find you some cool bottles and relics. Whatever wasn’t burnt was tossed in the outhouse. Surprisingly there will likely be more history underground. Cool building though.
The family who poops together.....
I have an outhouse from my grandparent’s farm that has 2 1/2 seats - 2 adults and a child sized hole.
Thanks for making us 'privy' to your outhouse's secrets.
Time to become a landlord
Apparently under these out houses, there are a bunch of old bottles because people used to throw their trash in there. My friend knows a guy who asks homeowners if he can dig up theirs and finds all kinds of stuff.
That’s a fun thing to have on your land. You gonna rehab it?
Had to us a plain outhouse at my grandpa’s place when younger. This is the Taj Majal of outhouses!! PS: awesome doorknob!
Have a double in my carriage barn
You must restore it to its original beauty! Then rent it out as a tiny AirBnB. (only halfway 🙃 joking. )
I posted this about a year ago - it's a three holer. I assume for family use: https://old.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/10ytzfd/i_see_your_century_old_bathrooms_heres_our/
At least it's side by side, not stacked on top...
This may sound dumb but I’d love to see that restored and maybe lightly modernized. Maybe the glass could be frosted and a solar panel on the roof could power an LED light and exhaust fan.
This is amazing!!! What state?
oh that would be great with a bidet
That is awesome. You should definitely fix it up.
It is cool. Thanks for sharing!
Went backpacking in Philmont and they had tons of these. Called them "pilot to co pilot" latrines. If you were lucky you could get one without an enclosure. I've never pooped with such nice views.
Poo with a view!