Existing comment:
The Outhouse:
This outhouse comes from the Tabernacle Methodist Church in Spartanburg County. It replaced an earlier outhouse in the 1940s and was removed in 1982 when plumbing was installed in the church. The Rev. Benjamin Wofford, founder of Wofford College, worshipped at this church in the late 1700s as a youth.
The outhouse got its name from its location in relationship to the main building. At least 20 yards was a safe, sanitary distance from one's home and water supply. Bitter cold or extreme heat could make a trip to the outhouse very uncomfortable.
Toilet paper was almost unheard of in the 1800s. Efforts to introduce individual sheets of toilet paper as early as 1857 failed because it was more economical to use old newspapers and, later, large mail-order catalogs.
Fact or Fantasy? A crescent moon has often been placed on outhouse doors in comic strips and cartoons. Actually, very few outhouses used this icon. No one knows its origin, but many know it means "the little she" is an outhouse. Did it refer to moonshiners? Perhaps it referred to using the outhouse at night. |