A village privy in East Barnard is filling a need and leaving a legacy
East Barnard is a picturesque town with historic homes, lovely scenery, and a close-knit community, but it has a persistent problem: a shortage of public restrooms. Since late last year, resident Randy Leavitt has been volunteering his time to resolve this situation by custom-building a shelter for a composting toilet outside the East Barnard Church.
The church was built in 1834, but despite being one of the central public buildings in town, Leavitt says, “I don’t know the last time there was a privy outdoors, but I’ve lived in the village since I was an infant and I’m almost 70, and I don’t remember a privy. That means that once people go to church, they don’t have a bathroom. We have tens of church services there in the summer, we’ve had two memorial services, we’re having two weddings there this summer, and we have a pretty popular Christmas Eve service — but no bathroom.”
Randy Leavitt stands on the spot where he is building the privy soon after he started last spring. Robert Shumskis Photo
Realizing the need, Leavitt teamed up with his wife to pitch his idea to the town. “I suggested to the board — my wife Heather is on the board and has been for a long time — that we build a bathroom out back. I explained what it would look like, and I said that I’d be willing to do the work for free if they paid for the materials. So that’s what is happening. We are fundraising for the materials, and we’re about halfway to the $25,000 cost of the whole structure, including the ramp that leads to it from the existing access ramp.”
Leavitt added, “There’s no lock on the door; it will be open for anybody who passes by. That’s why I’m calling it the village privy instead of the church bathroom. There are a lot of hikers and bikers. The village of East Barnard is on a few maps that are popular for bike rides, and there are some hiking trails in the village, so there’s often people hanging around.”
“My goal is to have it done before the end of the building season, whenever that turns out to be,” he says hopefully.
For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard.
