The outhouse has been a permanent fixture at the Hermitage from the very beginning. During the first ten years of living without running water the outhouse was a necessity. For the next forty-five years it's been sheer luxury!
The Hermits' backhouse is a two-seater, with "Pilot" and "Co-Pilot" chiseled into the wooden platform seat. A wooden insert fits into either adult-sized hole to keep the wee things from taking an unwanted trip down.
In case you're wondering, the outhouse in winter is no big deal. The wooden seats warm immediately when you sit down. After that one simply wraps their coat around themselves and everything is roasty, toasty!
Just the place to enjoy nature's serenity and experience relief at the same time. And, if you're still enough, you may even get a surprise visit from a four-legged visitor. Red squirrels, rabbits, and mice like hanging out and occaisionally leave a deposit of their own.
Thankfully, the porcupines seem to only visit during the night. The big attraction for them is salt and they've gnawed away a good part of the "splash board" on the pilot's side. That splash board has saved many an axe handle!No, Hermit doesn't keep his cash and valuables in the outhouse. The strong box keeps the TP dry and free from molestation from the local nest builders.
Yes, I know. The outhouse has no door. If fell off many years ago and I never gave a thought to replacing it. The added ventilation keeps the place smelling sweet, and I mean, who want's to sit in the dark when they can gaze out on a beautiful woodside scene?
Original cedar shingle roof. First hole.
First tin roof - reclaimed. Second Hole.
New replacement tin roof. Second Hole.
As long as I could remember, the RELIEF sign seen here adorned the outhouse at "The Birches", Gram's cottage on Murry Isle, NY in the St. Lawrence River's Thousand Islands.
When she sold the cottage the Relief sign and the farm bell from her brother Bill's Kansas farm came to rest in their new home on Bunker Hill (La Colline Bunker), Quebec, Canada.
