Talk about unscheduled stops on a stagecoach ride--in a Civil War era
diary that I transcribed, the diarist (female) spoke of a trip in which
the horses stubbornly stopped 3 or 4 times during the journey and the
travelers had to get out of the carriage and walk a couple of miles
until the driver could get the persnickety equine to budge and catch up
with them.  Darlene Richardson

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jurretta Heckscher
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 12:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Before the Portable Toilet

Great topic!--thanks, Brent.  Not that I have any answers.

I've wondered the same thing about stagecoach travel.  It's one thing to
make a scheduled stop at a tavern, say; quite another to deal with such
matters unscheduled on long hauls between towns.  And given the almost
proverbially wretched state of Virginia's roads in the stagecoach era
(e.g.,
http://www.alexandria.lib.va.us/lhsc_online_exhibits/doc/archived/
dec_2005/doc.html), there must have been many such unscheduled stops.

I'm thinking of the plight of women, particularly.  Those long skirts!

And how on earth did women manage the practical side of their menstrual
cycles while traveling?  Or, for that matter, on or off the road in the
eighteenth century, when even among the wealthy (if memory serves) the
only undergarment normally worn below the waist was one's shift?

All such matters may be one more element explaining why early Virginia's
traveling population in all social strata, including runaway slaves,
seems to have been heavily male.

--Jurretta Heckscher

Opportunistic P.S. on a tangential topic:  Eventually, as we ponder
these mysteries and refresh our gratitude for modern conveniences, can
someone please explain why the rest area at approximately mile post 105
on I-95 north of Richmond is officially designated the Petersburg rest
area?  It's more than 50 miles from Petersburg.  Thanks.