Portalet Question

[bqbowden]

I thought I would break Sam's question out as a separate post.

This thread has been dormant awhile, but I am interested about something. All the talk about water needed, there is "the other end" of the question. I'd like some thoughts and suggestions about sinks, latrines, porta johns, etc. I know at mainstream events the little blue houses are easily seen (for good or bad). A little camo paint could help. What are some of ya'lls experiences at more history intensive events. As a plumbing contractor, I do know this unpleasant logistic is extremely important, healthwise. Perhaps even moreso than water supply. It wouldn't take too much for a local county health department to come sniffing around. Without tooooo much detail, how are sinks set up and what about hygeinic papers, leaves or cobs?

Sam Looney
1st Missouri Battalion
Trans-Mississippi Brigade

The best example I have seen for hiding these is at Selma, Alabama. They built a wood screen around three sides as well as place these in an area close to the woods. The "blue boxes" are at most events, a necessity, however if and when you can hide them or make them "part of the scenery" then you are way ahead of most events.

[John McClellan]

Re: Portalet Question

A thickit/woods has always worked well for me, much cleaner too.
I bring my own water and leave it in my truck.
John McClellan
Fowlers Battery

[Hank Trent]

Re: Portalet Question

For actual constructed facilities, at the events I've attended Winter 64 had the best military ones I've seen (officer and enlisted dug sinks), and TAG had the best civilian specifically constructed for the event (wooden outhouse with corncobs and period graffiti).

Most campaign events I've attended encourage individual usage of the woods, with a few exceptions. You're on your own for leaves, newspapers, rags, etc.

Don't know how it's handled from a legal viewpoint. The one event I organized like that was in a national forest where using the woods was the norm, and Linda organized one on private property where the land-owner gave permission.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Spinster]

Re: Portalet Question

We tend more towards the occupation of various structures--cabins, farm sheds, and such like, and have a number of children in our circle of friends--and thus a lot of 'nighttime' trips.

We deal with this by the use of reproduction period commodes--essentially, these are wooden boxes, with seat and chamber pot (or tin bucket), with a nice furniture finish. As they were in the period a rather discreet looking item, so are they today. I've had to actually show more than one person that the little end table at the foot of their bed contained the 'facilities'.

As needed, we take a shovel and find an appropriate spot to bury the contents.


As far as covering the little blue houses, in addition to wooden screens, we've also used straw matting ( this made sense in an 18th century setting where the houses were mud, moss, and timbered, with straw matting or thatching used for roofing.) We've also simply pre-fabbed brush arbor sections and put them up after the houses are placed. Integral to any of these options though, is proper planning for easy of access by the trucks, both to place and to clean the facilities.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Portalet Question

Each event needs to find its own balance between convenience of sanitation facilities (location), screening of modern sanitation facilities, and accuracy to the period. Most events don't try for anything other than convenience of location.

At "campaigner" events I've helped to organize, we've run the gamus from modern sanitary facilities that were screened (located behind an evergreen tree or building) to simply using period-style sinks (such as at the recent "Winter 1864" event). Even at "Winter 1864" we made some compromises--yes, we had separate, perioid-style sinks for enlisted and officers, but these sinks were located very close to the camps (convenience means they may be used more) and we opted for each to provide some basic, rudimentary privacy screening because we knew we had to bow to some modern sensibilities of privacy (not that the enlisted sink was all that private, but we did put some canvas around three sides of it so it wasn't in 100% full view of the guys in the company street).

Most "mainstream" event organizers think little of this matter other than, "do we have enough of them" and "are they close by the participant camps".