PRIVIES 101
The word privy means private. This word was synonymously used with the word outhouse. An outhouse was simply a small "outbuilding" with a bench seat and a circular hole fashioned in it located over a pit. Before the turn of the century nearly all residences in the United States had at least one privy on their property. Although sometimes we privy hunters still regard that as a highly capricious statement.
In this much simpler time water and sewer was established on a per household basis. This means water was supplied from your own well or cistern. Likewise you were also responsible for handling your own waste disposal. This was accomplished with the use of a privy located within walking distance of the house. Not until electricity and water were supplied on a commercial basis did the homes of our United States abandon their private spot.
.The household privy was in many ways an early facsimile of what would evolve into our traditional bathroom, in that it housed many of the medications that were taken daily.
Privies were used by all members of the family with a smaller seat hole for the little ones. Sometimes a person would not want to make the trek out to the privy for various reasons such as inclement weather or maybe just too tired, so a chamber pot would temporarily hold the waste until it could be dumped into the privy.
Just as all things in the world have a usefull life, privies were no exception. The average life span seems to be around 15-20 years. At this time a new pit would be dug on the property and the house over the old pit would be removed. The dirt removed from the new pit would be used to fill the old pit and the old house would be positioned over the newly dug pit.
Just stop and imagine what it would have been like leaving your warm house in the winter, walking through the snow, to go sit on a cold peice of wood in the dark! Although when you think about what we have to deal with in the world as we know it today, it is us I think the early outhouse users would feel sorry for.
Here are some fine examples of vanishing landmarks.