I know some fans love to make fun that the Old House had an outhouse. However, I can't go one more second without pointing out that (and this isn't directed at any one fan in particular because several have been guilty
):
- The flush toilet was invented in 1596 by John Harrington
- First valve-type flush toilet was introduced in 1738 by a man named J.F. Brondel (J.F. Bronde)
- Alexander Cummings invented the Strap, a sliding valve between the bowl and the trap in 1775.
- Samuel Prosser applied for and received a patent for a plunger toilet in 1777.
- Joseph Bramah altered the design in 1778 so that it had a valve at the bottom of the bowl that worked on a hinge, a predecessor to the modern ballcock.
And something tells me the Collinses were rich enough to have had the latest toilets installed in the Old House when it was constructed in 1767 - and the facilities were probably upgraded with each new innovation (Revolutionary War be damned!).
The idea of Joshua Collins - or any members of that generation of the family, for that matter - actually using an outhouse is patently absurd! I suspect they would rather have been dead.