When we dug the canal boats in the James Center in the 1980's we had  
two packet boats. One was a stripped hull and the other was nearly  
complete. The stripped one we found first. It had a toilet pipe in  
the front that had been cut off and smashed. From contemporary  
descriptions, we knew that the boats had toilets for the ladies that  
flushed directly into the canal. Other details were not available,  
including whether there was a men's toilet in the stern. When we dug  
the second one, the compartment in which the toilet was contained was  
extant. It was 18" wide. We too wondered how ladies with hoop skirts  
managed (we did know about the split pantaloons). So when an  
opportunity in the form of a reinactor presented herself, I somewhat  
indelicately asked and was told that one gathered them on one edge  
only and then backed into the space required.

 From information from my parents and grandparents, corncobs were  
indeed used. There were sometimes two piles, one larger pile of red  
ones and a pile of white ones. The story went that a red was used  
first, then a white to see if another red was needed (sorry for the  
"direct" picture). As they were outside, they were softened by rain  
and were not that uncomfortable. When toilet paper came into use, it  
was rationed as it was so expensive, at least by my ancestors.

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


On May 1, 2007, at 10:36 AM, Brent Tarter wrote:

> I noticed yesterday that in preparation for the Thursday visit of  
> Queen
> Elizabeth to Richmond the grounds staff has placed more than 75 bright
> blue and green portable toilets in Capital Square, where a large crowd
> is expected. They add a dash of color to the scene, but I am not sure
> that on they whole they classify as a thing of beauty and a joy  
> forever.
>
> I wonder, though, for all the centuries before portable toilets, what
> corresponding preparations got made for large, protracted  
> gatherings of
> people at such events as revival meetings, political rallies, and the
> like. Several thousand people spent the day on Jamestown Island in May
> 1857 celebrating the first settlement of the colony, for instance, but
> accounts of that event that I have seen  mention speaking and  
> eating and
> drinking but nothing else.
>
> I suppose that people researching such events may have encountered  
> some
> references to that important subject, even though once upon a time it
> might have been regarded as improper to mention it. Students of social
> history or public health may also have knowledge of this subject,  
> but I
> confess that I do not recall seeing any references at all.
>
> Perhaps somebody out there can satisfy our purely empirical curiosity
> about that part of the past.
>
> Brent Tarter
> The Library of Virginia
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us