Privy
This essential outbuilding ("outhouse") was a tall, narrow structure, usually with a square footprint, and most often with a shed roof, though gabled roofs also were common. It was built over a pit where human waste was collected; when the pit filled, the privy was moved. Framing was the most common construction method. Of course, the privy was sited at a distance from the house, usually in the back. A door in one side provided access, and sometimes there would be a vent or small window. The privy predates plumbing, so they survived on many farms well into the twentieth century, across the entire state.
Privy, North Annville Township, Lebanon County, c. 1945.
(Site 075-NA-001)
Privy, Locust Township, Columbia County.
Note
This is a static, archived version of the PHMC Pennsylvania Agricultural History Project website which will not be updated. It is a snapshot of the website with minor modifications as it appeared on August 26, 2015.
Pages in this Section
- Overview
- House Types
- Barn Types
- Barn Features
- Outbuilding Types
- Overview
- Bake Oven
- Butcher House
- Carriage House
- Cider House
- Combination Structure
- Cook House
- Corn Crib
- Dryhouse
- Fruit Cold Storage
- Garage
- Grain Bin
- Granary
- Greenhouse
- Hay Drying Shed
- Hog House
- Horse Barn
- Ice House
- Machine Shed
- Maple Sugar House
- Milk House
- Packing House
- Potato Storage Cellar
- Poultry Housing
- Privy
- Roadside Stand
- Root Cellar
- Scale House
- Shed
- Silo
- Smokehouse
- Spray Shed
- Springhouse
- Summer Kitchen
- Wagon Shed
- Wash House
- Wood Shed
- Worker Housing
- Workshop
- Landscape Elements
- Archaeological Features