Wanted: One slate-roofed privy from Delta, Pa.
A single, heavy beam supports roof joists inside a Welsh quarrymen’s cottage in Coulsontown, near Delta. Welsh immigrants brought this construction technique to the region when they arrived to work in southeastern York County’s slate quarries. If anyone is aware of an outhouse in the Delta area with a slate roof, please comment below. Background posts: Time almost forgot Welsh miner’s hamlet of Coulsontown, 100 years later, Delta clock keeps on ticking and Gettysburg fighting heard about 60 miles away.
Seattle’s David Williams, wingate@seanet.com, is a natural history writer working on a book about building stone.
He’s writing a chapter on slate and its many uses – roofing, billiard tables, gravestones and blackboards.
And on outhouses… .
He has read that in the Delta/Peach Bottom region, specifically in the Welsh miner’s village of Coulsontown, that an outhouse stands bearing a slate roof.
Any word on that?
I asked York Daily Record/Sunday News photographers Bil Bowden and Paul Kuehnel if they’ve seen the privy.
“No, I don’t remember,” Bil replied, “but it gives me a good reason to go look, eh?”
And I asked David if the slate clock sitting in Delta’s museum would work.
No, it’s the outhouse he’s looking for.
Actually, David is embarked on serious project. He’s weaving together the cultural and natural history of building stones.
I asked him to let us know when his project is finished so we can buy his book.
