The Schuyler Mansion in Shuylerville, NY (just east of Saratoga), is the colonial home of a Revolutionary War general who fought for the colonists. Today it's a National Park Service facility and tours are available every day (at least in summer). The kitchen is restored, with cooking pots and utensils and it's a great way to see how life was at the end of the 18th Century.
But one feature knocks me out with its implications. The outhouse is also restored, and stands out back, though it probably isn't used today. The feature that strikes me is: there are three seats inside, close enough for 18th Century occupants to have rubbed shoulders. WHY?!?!?
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Comments: 15
Management of body waste was a whole different ballgame before running water came into the scene to wash it tastefully away. People would throw the wastes out windows to the streets in cities and think nothing of tossing them in local waterways, which also served to provide drinking water.
One of the reasons why cholera was so devastatingly contagious 100 or so years ago was the complete lack of sanitation and hygiene so prevalent back then.
There were no sinks handy to wash one's hands, no refrigeration... Also note back then that a lot of servants were required to support a single household (depending on the size), often in the dozens. Perhaps the master's family was still using chamber pots, with servants to clean them for them, but no one cleaned up after the servants nor were servants' privacy and priveleges given a great deal of thought. Heck, for well-to-do men and women, dressing by oneself was all but impossible because of the fashions. Chances are that everyone was pretty blase about being seen in states of undress by either their servants or, if servants, by each other.
I asked a Park Service guide the reason for a 3-holer, but she had never considered it & couldn't answer.
Maybe Stephanie has it right. Today, women in a double date situation often go to the ladies' together & men's public urinals are shoulder-to-shoulder.
Perhaps the three-seater you saw was only used by one person at a time, but it was more efficient to have a three-seater to spread out the waste below. Individuals could choose which seat they used or perhaps individuals had a seat assigned to them. Maybe one for children, one for men, and one for women.
Certainly the Romans had no hangups about being seen in states of undress. But somehow I suspect there's more to our embarrassment during the act than simply the nakedness. As Stephanie points out, many devastating epidemics were caused by inadequate disposal of waste. Perhaps there's an evolutionary component...go away from the troop to poop.