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Vevay might just be Indiana’s most stunning county seat. Tucked along the banks of the Ohio River and framed by gentle, rolling hills, the town completely floored me on my first visit. Honestly, I’d move there in a heartbeat- partly for the views, and partly because there’s a hexagonal privy on the courthouse lawn. How could I resist?

Oxford Languages defines the noun “privy” as a toilet located in a small shed outside a house or other building; an outhouse¹. The word comes from Old French prive, which, as a noun, meant “private place,” or “familiar friend².” Every privy I’ve ever known has been a little bit of both! I’m sure Vevay’s was very familiar for those who came to town to do business one way or another, but I wonder how private it was back during the privy’s heyday. 

Unfortunately, pinpointing the date the privy was put up is difficult. Our best guess is that it was built during the mid-1800s³, perhaps around the time the courthouse was built in 1862⁴. The hexagonal building features a standing-seam metal roof and a central, louvered ventilator, along with six doors that each feature a transom window. More than a century and a half after it was built, the privy is still home to four of its original doors. Only two have been replaced⁵. 

The privy originally stood directly to the north of the courthouse, but things changed when the building underwent an elaborate expansion in 2005. The brick outhouse was moved to the west of the new addition during the project and now sits as a single space on top of a concrete slab foundation⁶. 

There you have it, folks- Vevay’s six-sided salute to civic sanitation. The town may boast river views, historic charm, and small-town hospitality, but its real star is the community’s landmark old courthouse and the elderly brick bathroom out back. I wish I’d known about it sooner, but now you’re privy to it, too.

Sources Cited
1 “Privy” (2025). Oxford Languages. Oxford University Press [Oxford]. Web. Retrieved July 24, 2025. 
2 See footnote 1.
3 National Register of Historic Places, Switzerland County Courthouse, Vevay, Switzerland County, Indiana, National Register # 09000435.
4 Enyart, David. “Switzerland County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. Retrieved 12/8/19.
5 (See footnote 3). 
6 (see footnote 3).