Ye Old Outhouse - Outhouse page

Outhouses

Why do I collect outhouses? That's a fair question - my husband is still asking it. I suppose that outhouses to our spoiled generation are only used during "good times" - camping, hiking, concerts and the like. The outhouse humor of the 1940's and 50's was funny without being excessively vulgar. Let's face it - bathroom humor makes us laugh! We all gotta go sometime, so we might as well chuckle on the way to the privy.

It is also a facinating thought that 100 years ago the average household HAD to have an outhouse, and indoor plumbing with it's lack of odor and no need to shovel out was a luxary only dreamed of by the typical American. We've come a long way! I can't help but wonder what they will be laughing at 100 years from now. Will our porclean "thrones" be as hysterical to our great grandkids as my granny's outhouses are to me?

I love to collect old architecture books, and it's great to read Sears house kits from the 1920's had indoor plumbing as an option!

The Biffy was an evil neccessity - hothouse for flies and spiders, full of nasty odors, and someone had to clean them out! Unless you had one of the innovative ones that hung over cliffs or beds of water... ick!

Click here to read "How to Build a Privy" from my 1913 Household Discoveries book! It's a very, very word-y, so be warned...

Please click on the links below or return to the main menu, and take a tour of the dooleys I've aquired, share my strange and inexplicable love for outhouse postcards, and enjoy news and photos of biffys out there today. Thanks for visiting!