There was an intermediate step between the outdoor pit privy and the
indoor flush toilet. Here in Delaware, we had "frostproof" cast-iron
toilets that could be installed in unheated parts, usually porches,
of the house. My grandparents had one on the back porch, and there
was one two doors from my present home, in a shed attached to the
kitchen porch area.

An acquaintance tells the story that when his father-in-law installed
indoor plumbing, he built an indoor bathroom, without a toilet, and a
separate heated privy on the porch with a flush toilet. This fellow
apparently was sort of conservative, since this happened in the
sixties. He reportedly said that he didn't want to relieve himself in
the same room where he got clean (His terminology was a bit more
earthy).

Frostproof toilets were cast-iron, with their traps located far down,
and separate from the bowl itself. There was a valve attached to the
seat hinge.

When not occupied, the seat was open a few inches off the bowl. When
one sat down and depressed the seat, the hinge-coupled valve opened,
sending a stream of water across the surface of the bowl.

The elegant porch-located privies designed by nineteenth-century
architects probably were equipped with boxes.  Most people probably
relieved themselves at night and in bad weather into covered chamber
pots, some of which may have been installed in potty stools.  While
we probably visualize the pots being carried out the back stairs by
chamber maids, let us remember the urban housemaids who would yell
"gardy loo" (gardez l'eau) and pitch the contents into the street.

There are still urban places in the world where the gutters are in
the middle of the street, to carry noxious waste.

In Delaware, privies for the common rural folk were a fairly late
introduction. A careful soil chemical survey of the soil should
identify where they relieved themselves.
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