Get a peek into the potties of the Colonial era on Gore Place tour 

Ever curious about how people used the bathroom before indoor plumbing was a standard practice? 

Tonight may be your chance to find out. 

Today at 7 p.m. Gore Place is hosting a one-of-a-kind tour on chamber pots and hygiene in the early 19th century. Long before toilets were a bathroom fixture, there were chamber pots: a bowl- or bucket-shaped container that was used as a portable toilet. Chamber pots were often placed in a bedroom or near a bed for late-night relief without having to scramble to the outhouse. 

Tonight’s tour will feature chamber pot artifacts, purpose-built furniture for chamber pots and pee guards all throughout Gore Place. 

Leading the tour is Miriam Boucher, a docent at Gore Place and expert of regional chamber pots and 19th-century hygiene. Boucher, who has been a tour guide at Gore Place for the past five years, researches daily life before plumbing and electricity. Her research began with a look into ornate sugar boxes of the period but soon turned to hygiene after learning how people made furniture for chamber pots.

“We’re trying to educate people that we didn’t always have running water or bathrooms or toilets — there was a time before all of that,” Boucher said. “No cell phones, no lights, nothing.”

Given the subject matter, potty humor may be unavoidable during the tour. But according to Boucher, the tour will not be all chuckles. Disease and death were common side effects of improper hygiene during the 19th century. Boucher mentioned the case of English physician John Snow, who in 1854 convinced local authorities to remove a water pump handle to stop a cholera outbreak in London’s SoHo district. 

“I take a serious side of things like diseases — cholera and typhoid — and reflect on cultural attitudes toward them,” Boucher said.  

According to Boucher, privacy looked very different 200-plus years ago. 

“What we would think of as privacy didn’t quite fly in 1806,” Boucher said. 

During tonight’s tour, Boucher will exhibit an 1810-style dress made for women who wore large gowns. 

“I do wear the dress and I did research on how women in full skirts used the bathroom, but — full disclosure — I wear gym shorts underneath,” Boucher said. 

General admission to tonight’s event is $19 for members of Gore Place and $21 for nonmembers. For tickets to the event, click here.