Bathrooms in Amish Homes (And the alternative…)
So, simple question here. Do the Amish have bathrooms in their homes? After all, this is one room of the home that most people would consider indispensable.
The answer is: it depends. Some Amish groups do, and some groups don’t. All in all, the majority of Amish do have bathrooms. However, there’s still a significant number of Amish who do not have bathrooms in their homes.
What are Amish bathrooms like?
Which Amish use bathrooms? Amish in Lancaster county, northern Indiana, most of the Amish in the Holmes County, Ohio community, just to name a few of the prominent settlements, would all have bathrooms with indoor plumbing. Many other smaller Amish settlements do as well.
And those bathrooms tend to look similarly or about the same as a non-Amish bathroom in a rural American home would look. These bathrooms have showers, toilets, sinks, running water, mirrors – the things you would expect to find in a typical bathroom.
One difference in Amish bathrooms
One thing that’s immediately different, of course, is the lighting in these Amish bathrooms. You may have a natural gas fixture built into the wall in some places. Some are going to use handheld lamps, either battery or fossil fuel-powered. Friends in a progressive community in Pennsylvania have an automatic, battery powered sensor light that goes on when you walk into the bathroom.
The lighting used in Amish bathrooms is one main difference with non-Amish bathrooms.
The Amish who don’t permit bathrooms
So you will find bathrooms in the majority of Amish homes. But there’s a significant number of Amish who do not have bathrooms. For whatever reason, they’ve decided that feature of a home is too worldly. This would include groups like:
- the Swartzentruber Amish
- the Kenton, Ohio, Amish group and their related communities
- the Troyer Amish
- Swiss Amish, such as the Adams County, Indiana community (the fifth-largest of all Amish settlements)
Amish use of outhouses
These are among the groups would use outhouses in lieu of a bathroom – but these aren’t the only Amish. They’re living a much plainer lifestyle, in that sense, to forego that convenience.
The outhouse is a simple structure, usually with one or two toilet openings, that you’ll see behind Amish homes. It’s usually placed some distance from the home itself, but not too far away so that you don’t have to walk too far at night, or in bad weather.
Amish people use toilet paper, though in the plainest communities, they may use other materials (newspapers, etc.). In the past, some Amish groups have gotten into legal trouble due to disposing of outhouse waste in their fields (see the Kenton, Ohio group mentioned above).
For most Americans, the outhouse is something from another era. Yet today, thousands of Amish live in this way – tens of thousands of Amish, in fact. However, this is still a minority of the total Amish population, which as of 2024 is approaching 400,000 people.
Bathrooms in Amish schools
One area in which you’ll see some unification on this topic would be in Amish schools. Most, if not all, Amish schools use the outhouse for the schoolchildren. They Amish school will have one outhouse for the boys, and one outhouse for the girls. You’ll notice this when you look at Amish schools. You’ll see two plain little structures, side-by-side behind the schoolhouse.
And whether they’re the more progressive or the more conservative groups, Amish use the outhouse for the school children. This reflects a generally lower-tech and simpler approach to schoolhouses, which is seen even in the more progressive settlements (as compared to Amish homes or businesses in those places, which tend to allow more technology).
Different ways of being Amish
Amish groups can be very different. Some are more progressive, others more conservative. You see this reflected in their styles of homes, and in how much technology and modern conveniences they allow into their homes. Likewise, the Amish have different approaches when it comes to the bathroom and plumbing.
This reflects how each Amish church has its own set of standards or rules (also known as Ordnung). Check out this video for more views of bathrooms in Amish homes (and outhouses).
Amish bananas?
Very near the end of this video (~2:44) is a shot of an Amish farm with what appears to be a clump of banana plants. This looks to be one of the plainer and less tidy Amish farmsteads (Schwartzentruber?), so it’s a surprise to see something exotic.
I grow bananas outdoors in Maryland, but it takes a lot of effort–a special variety, cutting them down in the Fall, mulching the roots heavily, etc. And the fruit is not edible. I grow them only for the frivolous, worldly goal of achieving a tropical look far from the tropics. Unless this farm is in the deep south, these Amish are coddling a tropical plant to make it grow in the north and only for show. Seems unAmish.
Boyce Rensberger
Bathroom alternatives
My first question is if there is no bathroom, how do the Amish who don’t have them keep clean? Do they fill a large tub with warm water and go from there as far as bathing is concerned? And when they’re done, how is the water disposed of? On days when full bathing might be considered unnecessary I could see using an old fashioned pitcher and basin arrangement maybe in one’s bedroom. This leads to a second question: when use of an outhouse is impractical, such as having to relieve oneself during the night or during the winter when it is too cold to go out and sit half naked in an outhouse,what then? Is there a kind of old fashioned commode kept in a closet in the house? By that I mean a kind of chair (perhaps that is where the saying “sitting on the throne” when referring to “bodily function” comes from) with a removable receptacle of water below. The receptacle could then be taken out to the outhouse and dumped there. As far as having to answer a call of nature during the night is concerned I’m sure they must have chamber pots for that purpose. I would be interested in reading what others think about this.
They likely practice the same hygiene routine that people practiced up until indoor plumbing became available in the 1800’s. Keep in mind that folks engaged in physical labor eating a healthy diet tend to produce less waste that is easier to clean up after. Probably cleaned up and took a full bath before visiting, attending church, etc.
In homes without plumbing that I’ve been aware of, they use “chamber pots” or similar when it’s cold. They get emptied when convenient. Others have used a bedside commode in a closet.
PS
I forgot to add that in order to have an outhouse a rather deep hole must be dug. Is the hole dug by hand or do the Amish have some type of tool (maybe a large auger) that is used? Once the hole is dug, what keeps the dirt from caving in from the sides of the hole? As I understand, outhouse holes don’t last forever–once every few years (I’m guessing) a new hole has to be dug and the old hole covered over with dirt–maybe a tree is planted on top of it (??). The outhouse is then moved on top of the new hole. Correct me if I am mistaken in this assumption.
Digging
Amish dig graves by hand, so digging an outhouse pit probably isn’t too big a task. Outhouse pits last longer than one would think. Like a septic field, the waste dissipates into the ground.
I’ve also been aware of an arrangement pre WWII where the toilet was above the manure pile in the barn so the human waste was intermingled with the animal manure. Probably not a problem for the waste of healthy people eating an unprocessed diet.
Outhouses & Chamber Pots
I have my great great grandmothers chamber pot, which was rather lavishly ornamented in a little gold leaf vines & green ivy that was made in Germany. As I remember, it was the first chore of the day to deposit the contents in the outhouse.
I also remember their bed warmer with coals from the coal stove.
My other grandfather had an outhouse that was never moved from its place…& was rather frightening.
As I understand, but have no experience with, the sanitation of outhouses with chemicals have come up in the world…but I don’t know if the Amish use these.
I am of strong German Mennonite descent.
Outhouses
In many parts of the rural south outhouses were common at country churches up through the late 1970’s at least.
Amish school with a bathroom
One community with bathrooms in their schools is the Kalona, Iowa community. I was fortunate enough to visit an Amish school there and had driven from a bit of a distance–I asked for the bathroom and was directed to an indoor restroom. It didn’t occur to me until now that I might have been sent outside, and I’m glad I wasn’t, as it was a chilly day in March!
bathrooms
I stayed with an Amish family who allows people to rent a room in their house. They had a regular bathroom. It even had a motion detecting light. All their lights were battery operated. Their water was propane and solar powered. It was basically like staying in a regular home though they didn’t have Wifi.
Trump 2024
I noticed ,In pensylvania the Amish Folks had huge Donald Trump 4 President Flags flying proudly on there buggies !!@Q patriot -223
Bathrooms
If there is running water in the bathrooms, what powers to pump to access the water? Do they electricity for this?