Franklin Privy Pit

This brick-lined, circular necessary, or privy pit, was probably built when Franklin expanded his house in 1786-87. A stone drain connecting to a vertical brick pipe conveyed waste into the pit either from Franklin's water closet, bathing room, or run-off from the sunken areaway outside the cellar kitchen. It is also a remnant of the areaway foundation retaining wall. In a November 18, 1785 letter to Rev. Manasseh Cutler, Rev. Belknap wrote that Dr. Franklin was obliged to use the warm bath every day to ease the pain of the gallstone, and that his copper bathing vessel, shaped like a slipper, allowed him to sit in the heel with his legs under the vamp and a place on the instep to fix his book.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States