Sartoris Plantation Privy in "My Grandmother Millard and General Bedford Forrest and the Battle of Harrykin Creek" (Location)

During most of the 19th century, even wealthy southerners went to the bathroom in a small outside building, known by a number of different names, including "outhouse" (as Bayard's narrative calls it) and "privy" (as Rosa calls it, 675) and, unfortunately for Melisandre and Philip, "backhouse." As described by Bayard - "the little tall narrow flimsy sentry-box" (676) - the Sartoris outhouse is typical. Although indoor plumbing became common throughout the U.S. during the 20th century, outhouses remained a feature of rural landscapes and poor communities for many decades.