Outhouses and snow were never a great combination, as the American poet James Whitcomb Riley opined in “The Old Backhouse,” which he wrote anonymously about 1900: But when the crust was on the ...

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "outhouse," used for a toilet, is a distinctly American term, the first recorded occurrence of which is as early as 1819.

A 19th century-era outhouse at Casa San Ysidro in Corrales, N.M. At a time when life could be harsh in the American Southwest, outhouses served more than one important role.

Some people are even building backyard bathrooms, according to reports in Apartment Therapy and Studio M, giving the outhouse — long a symbol of American backwoodsiness — a total makeover.

The outhouse -- otherwise known as the backhouse, privy, or necessary -- once dotted the Arkansas landscape; originally a time-saving and sanitary invention, it remained a symbol of the poverty ...

CORRALES, N.M. – At a time when life could be harsh in the American Southwest, outhouses served more than one important role. They provided structure, protected water resources and created im… ...

CORRALES, N.M. (AP) — At a time when life could be harsh in the American Southwest, outhouses served more than one important role. They provided structure, protected water resources and ...