When You Gotta Go..

The gallery has pictures of outhouses from many places all over the US, and a few other countries. These pictures were all sent by the readers. Some of these pictures are quite interesting I'd say. Some of these are still in use, some were converted for other uses. Such as a changing room at the pool, with flowers around it and as a storage shed.

My favorite is the one in which the owner put old boots with pant legs in it. The outhouse stands at the end of his driveway. He says it has become a "somewhat a local tourist attraction". You will find this outhouse under "Bob Oder's Outhouse".

Outhouse Gallery by Don Ponder
http://www.donponder.com/fame.htm

Now, after viewing this site, I wondered why the outhouses have the crescent moon on them. Originally, I thought it was probably to let the "foul" odor out, or something like that. But it was the shape that really puzzled me. Why a crescent? Well, I found out that the answer isn't exactly what I thought.

The Legends of America's site tells us that back in the Colonial times many people were illiterate. So they used the moon crescent as a symbol for women, and the star as a symbol for men. It is also believed that the cutout let in the light from the outside through in windowless outhouses. Another belief is that the men's outhouses often fell into a bad shape, that they ended up using the women's outhouses which were much cleaner and had a better stability.

Legends of America
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-Outhouse2.html