OUTHOUSE TOUR FORMS IN THE REAR un-edited

“Outhouse Tour Forms in the Rear” Photo made of leaning privy at Bodie, California ghost town.
George Papp, Sr. says I build outhouses, backhouses, privies etc. and have done so for many years and am amused by all the silly answers people give for the crescent cut out. First let me state there was nothing symbolic about it at its inception. An outhouse is as basic, functional, no nonsense a design as you would ever find on a homestead. The crescent was never designed to be a vent or a window to let in light. A well-built outhouse usually had a vent along the roof line to vent out the chamber and a pipe from the box through the ceiling to vent out the gases.
At a time when it was rather silly to waste good hardware on such a humble structure, old practical carpenters would just cut a crescent shaped groove into the door which fit the shape of a hand reaching into the door. Thus the door could be opened from the outside and if necessary the user could reach up from inside to secure the door if they heard someone coming. To insure privacy, you would find a scrap of cloth nailed on the inside so it would drape down and cover the opening without hindering the hand from reaching in.
Over time, hardware became much cheaper and the crescent was no longer necessary and the traditional handle was replaced by those newfangled metal devices. Because the crescent became synonymous with the backhouse, the crescent tradition lived on and eventually became a signature decoration for this piece of Americana.
Research is very necessary for me to manufacture a credible product for my customers located throughout New England and if you dig further you will still find folks who have actually depended upon this noble and humble structure, and have known the only function of this cutout to be as I have just described. Any doubters are welcome to come on down to the Bull Hill Workshop on Bull Hill in Colchester, Ct. for a bit of reality and common sense.
Thank you, Georg Papp, Sr.

Other privy facts - toilet paper is stored inside a coffee can with a little rice in the bottom as a desiccant. This keeps the paper from getting damp and soggy if it rains for several days.
Many outhouses had a bag of Lime with a scoop. Every so often the owner would throw a scoop of lime down the hole to help "digest" the contents below. Here is some additional information or the rest of the story about using lime. The lime used in an outhouse did not help "digest" the night soil. It tended to slow down the "digestion" by sweetening or decreasing the acidity and smell of the soil. This was more important in the summer (for obvious reasons). Lime was used similarly in potter's fields - mass grave yards for the poor, or for a large die-off during a plague. While the lime would burn the flesh, the stench was not as severe as with the natural acidity of rotting protein, urea, and amino acids.

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