Back in the day, bathwater was collected in barrels similar to this one. Pexels/Courtney Sargent
How does one take a bath in a farmhouse that has no running water? It is hard to imagine that now, but as a young girl in the early 1950s visiting my grandparent’s farm in Woodbury, I don’t remember having that question.
My hard-working grandmother, Laura (Schilling) Stutzman, pulled out a circular galvanized metal tub from somewhere in the farmhouse, placed it on the kitchen floor, poured in soft rainwater (collected in an outdoor rain barrel) and heated a kettle of water over the wood–fired stove in the kitchen. She then proceeded to create a warm bath for her visiting granddaughters from the city.
I suppose it could be compared to camping in our present day, but back then, life on the farm was a lot of hard work. It was very important, in fact essential, to take your weekly bath Saturday evening, so you would be clean for church on Sunday morning. It was something that most farmers adhered to—but I can imagine there were a few farmers that skipped that activity for some reason, much to the chagrin of the congregation sitting nearby!
Patty (Stutzman) Paulus is a board member of the Woodbury Heritage Society. Discover more at woodburyheritage.org.
