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Museum & Gardens Program A: Waste & Water at Point Ellice House Updated January 2021 Note:​ There is a powerpoint slideshow file that accompanies this package which you can use in conjunction with or instead of the provided worksheets. Program Outline General Description Program Title:​ Waste & Water at Point Ellice House Target Grades:​ 1 through 5 Location Addressed: ​Point Ellice House, Victoria, British Columbia Time Period Addressed:​ 1870s–1920s Links to Curriculum Content: ● Relationships between a community and its environment ● How people’s needs and wants are met in communities ● Local (Victoria) and colonial settler history Recommended Program Time:​ 50–80 minutes. For the youngest grades, we strongly recommend working on a single activity in a session, rather than completing all three at once. Historical Context Point Ellice House was built in 1862, and no flush toilet existed on the property until at least the 1880s. Residents would use commodes, privies (outhouses), or chamber pots to go to the bathroom. The first flush toilets came to North America only in the late 1800s. A municipal water supply did not come to Victoria until the 1870s. Commodes and chamber pots were used primarily at night and emptied into the pits of the privies in the morning. The O’Reillys were a wealthy family and employed servants, so this would have been the work of the chambermaid. The privy pits would eventually fill up. It was the job of private businessmen called scavengers to empty them. This job was done at night because of the foul smell. There was a well on the property that was used to get water until city water pipes were extended to the house in 1876. This cost Peter O’Reilly the equivalent of about $10,000, which he split with a neighbour. To wash, water would be heated and poured into wash basins or free-standing tubs. Daily washing routines were done with a sponge or cloth dipped into hot water, instead of fully-submerged baths or showers like we take today. At some point (date uncertain), the O’Reillys had a range boiler installed in the kitchen, connected to the wood-burning kitchen stove, which was used to supply hot water. This was not common for most families at the time, but the O’Reillys could afford this luxury as a wealthy family. Eventually, the family had a conventional bathtub installed in the Program Outline bathroom (you can see it in the photo of that room), which connected to water pipes. The residents of Point Ellice House had a soak pit for their wastewater (from slop buckets and washing, never from chamber pots). A soak pit is a covered, porous-walled chamber lined with gravel and/or rocks, which allows greywater to filter through the soil and be reclaimed into groundwater supply. Domestic soak pits, like the one that the O’Reillys had at Point Ellice House, were used to filter wastewater from tasks including laundry, dishes, bathing, etc., and excluding toilet usage. The soak pit is filled with gravel and rocks, which help the pit to retain its structure and shape while allowing water to filter through. As water is absorbed into the soil, small particles are filtered out and micro-organisms break down organic materials left in the water. Soak pits are best suited to soils with good absorptive properties; clay, hard packed or rocky soils are not appropriate. They are not appropriate for areas that are prone to flooding or have high groundwater tables. Program Outline Program Components Activity 1: Bathrooms Now and Then Description:​ Students will explore the bathroom of Point Ellice House through artifacts and photographs and contrast it to their own at home. Recommended Time: ​20–30 minutes Purpose:​ To get students thinking about waste and water in their daily lives versus how things would have been done at PEH (Late 1800s-Early 1900s). Brief Outline:​ Students answer questions about and draw a picture of their own bathrooms. Then, students are shown six artifacts from the PEH collection and are asked to guess their functions. Finally, they look at photos of the PEH bathroom and washstands and are asked to observe and note any differences from their own. Activity 2: Morning Wash-up Description:​ Students are introduced to a washstand set from the PEH collection. Recommended Time: ​15–20 minutes Purpose: ​To introduce students to the items used (in place of our modern baths and showers) to wash up at PEH. Brief Outline:​ Students are shown a set of washstand items from the collection, with their names. They are asked to work through a personal hygiene routine and decide which items from the set might help them do each task (such as washing their face or brushing their teeth). Activity 3: Getting Rid of Waste and Water Description:​ Students are introduced to the concept that our wastewater (and bathroom waste) needs to be dealt with somehow, as it did in the past. Recommended Time: ​20–30 minutes Purpose: ​To get students thinking about where their water and waste end up and contrast it with where the people of PEH disposed of their wastewater. Brief Outline:​ Students are asked to consider where wastewater goes today, and are shown how the residents of PEH disposed of theirs. Then, students are asked to decide if the wastewater from certain tasks would have gone into the soak pit, or the pit toilet at PEH. Program Outline Further Resources You can view or show your class a short video about the work of scavengers in Victoria using the following link: https://youtu.be/vMrw5gDHo1g You can view a 360 degree image of the PEH bathroom and scullery with these links. Bathroom: https://www.facebook.com/PointElliceHouse/photos/a.2918301481551353/29183 10844883750/?type=3&theater Scullery: https://www.facebook.com/PointElliceHouse/photos/a.2918301481551353/29183 10708217097/?type=3&theater If you want to explore places in the Capital Regional District (Victoria and area) connected to the history of water and waste, we have created an interactive map with images and stories here: https://pointellicehouse.com/springs-scavengers-interactive-map/ Waste & Water at Point Ellice House STUDENT WORKSHEETS Waste & Water at Point Ellice House Activity: Bathrooms Now and Then In the space below, draw a picture of your own bathroom at home. List what you think is important in your bathroom: 1 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House How do you do these things at home? Is there an object that helps you do it? Brush your teeth: Wash your face: Take a bath: Go to the bathroom: Do these have anything in common? 2 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House Now let’s take a look at some bathroom items from Point Ellice House. What do you think these objects are? What were they used for? PEH1975.001.616 PEH1975.001.3094 PEH1975.001.3241 3 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House PEH1975.001.1796 PEH1975.001.377 PEH1975.001.604a 4 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House POINT ELLICE HOUSE BATHROOM & BEDROOM WASH STANDS 5 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House 6 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House 7 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House 8 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House What do you notice about these photos?​ ​Does anything stand out to you? Do you think there is anything missing? 9 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House Activity: Morning Wash-up! 10 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House Decide which item to use to help you do these things: 1. It is the middle of the night and you have to go to the bathroom. You have no flush toilet and the privy is outside! Where do you go? 2. You wake up in the morning and want to brush your teeth. Where is your toothbrush? 3. Next, you need to wash your face. How do you get water to do this and where do you put it? 4. Now that you have your water, what do you use to clean yourself? 5. You now need to get rid of the water you used to wash up. Where do you put it? 11 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House Activity: Getting Rid of Waste and Water We use water to help us do all these activities. Where does the used water go after you do these things? Brush your teeth: Wash your face: Take a bath: Go to the bathroom: 12 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House Today, most of our waste water goes down our drains! Cities and towns usually have systems in place to treat wastewater from our drains before it mixes with clean water. What do you think we would do with the water if we didn’t have drains? 13 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House The residents at Point Ellice House had a soak pit for their used water. 14 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House The pipe in the photo was connected to a sink in the scullery (a washing room). Used water (from ​slop buckets​) would be emptied into this sink and filter out through the soak pit outside. The soak pit, filled with rocks and gravel, filtered the water as it soaked back into the ground. Tiny organisms would break down the filtered out material. 15 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House But what about chamber pots? Those shouldn’t be emptied into the sink! Why do you think it is important to keep what’s in the chamber pots out of the sink? Where do you think people emptied their chamber pots (from going to the bathroom)? 16 Waste & Water at Point Ellice House Point Ellice House did not have flush toilets (like we do now) until the 1880s.
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