Hello, Group:

Lyle raises an interesting point, and one I have often intended to
investigate, regarding the 5-holer at Westover.  Does anyone know the
history of this particular toilet?  I have not visited Westover since 1998,
but I do have some photographs of the interior of the building.  

It would be interesting to know if this structure dates to the 19th-century
or if it were in place in anything like its present form during the
18th-century, for a careful analysis of it might reveal significant
information about the mores of Virginians during the period of its
construction.  For instance, if it dates to the period when the Byrds
actually controlled Westover, then its history might have implications for
the racialized, gendered, and class boundaries of early Virginia society.

I have often wondered, however, if the structure is of more recent origin,
perhaps an early 20th-century modification of a pre-existing structure.
Have any architectural surveys of Westover addressed this issue? 

Best regards,

Thomas Daniel (Dan) Knight
Assistant Professor
Department of History and Philosophy
The University of Texas -- Pan American
1201 West University Drive
Edinburg, TX 78541-2999 

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Date:    Wed, 2 May 2007 10:30:22 -0400
From:    "Lyle E. Browning" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Before the Portable Toilet

.......Westover Plantation has a wonderful 5 holer with no dividers between.

Apparently, social customs were way more "open" then than now.

Finally, and to turn everyone totally green, there was a famous  
medical treatise written in the 18th century by an Irish doctor who  
went behind hedges which served as sorts of linear curtains/screens  
for those who had the urge. The good doctor examined the evidence and  
wrote his treatise on the health of the individuals who had left said  
evidence.

Lyle Browning, RPA