The Horse-Drawn Hearse at the Old Meeting House Museum

The horse-drawn hearse on display at the Old Meeting House Museum in Wilbraham is a fine example of a rural two-horse-drawn hearse manufactured around the 1870s, believed to have been built by the George L. Brownell Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts. George L. Brownell was a renowned carriage maker throughout the mid-19th century, known for crafting elegant and durable hearses that were sold across New England and even shipped abroad. His business thrived until the arrival of the automobile brought an end to the era of horse-drawn vehicles.

Two-horse-drawn hearse manufactured around the 1870s

While this hearse is not the original one used by the Town of Wilbraham, it closely resembles the type of funeral coach that would have served the community during the post-Civil War era. The Hearse House, however, was constructed much earlier, in 1823. The original hearse housed there would have been considerably simpler in design, likely featuring small windows, or none at all, and lacking the elaborate ornamentation and large glass side panels found on the Victorian hearse now on display.

Unfortunately, no records have survived to document the fate of Wilbraham's original hearses. Once they had outlived their usefulness, they were likely repurposed, as was common in rural New England. It would not have been unusual for an old hearse to be converted into a utility wagon for a local business or adapted for use on a farm.

The museum’s hearse was originally shipped to the Midwest, where it served rural areas with sandy and dirt roads from the 1870s until the mid-1920s, when motorized hearses became widely available. Because it operated in rural terrain rather than on paved city streets, this model features wider wheels designed for softer ground, unlike the narrower wheels of urban hearses built for cobblestone or brick roads.

The glass windows in the coach are believed to be original. The interior curtains and finial fringe, however, have been carefully restored to match period examples. Inside the carriage rests a wicker body basket, which was historically used to remove the deceased shortly after death, before being placed in a coffin for transport to the cemetery.

Before the advent of funeral homes, wakes were commonly held in the home of the deceased. The body was then conveyed by hearse to the cemetery for burial, often followed by a memorial service at the local church.

This hearse is housed in the town's original Hearse House, a small building believed to have been constructed in 1823 by Stoddard Burt, a highly skilled local carpenter and cabinetmaker. Burt had previously built his own home in Wilbraham's South Village (present-day Main Street in Hampden) in 1796. An entry in his account book, covering the years 1819 to 1835, simply records: "1823 Built a house for the hearse." Given Wilbraham's small population at the time, it is highly unlikely that the town would have maintained more than one hearse house, making this almost certainly the structure that still survives today. At the time, the town had only four cemeteries, with Adams Cemetery occupying the most central location within the community. It was therefore a natural and practical choice for the construction of the hearse house.

Stoddard Burt was one of Wilbraham's most accomplished craftsmen. In addition to constructing numerous homes throughout the community, he produced a wide variety of finely made household furnishings, including candle stands, tables, cradles, bureaus, chairs, and bedsteads. He also built coffins, reflecting the broad range of services expected of a skilled village craftsman during the early nineteenth century.

For many years, the Hearse House stood at the southeast corner of the original meetinghouse lot. In 1871, however, it was moved to the carriage and blacksmith shop of Chauncey E. Peck near the north end of the village center, at what is now 380 Main Street. By the time Peck published his History of Wilbraham in 1913, the former Hearse House was being used for lumber storage, although little documentation survives from that period.

One record does confirm that the town's original hearse remained in use. The 1902 Wilbraham Annual Town Report notes that C. E. Peck repainted the hearse at a cost of $30.00, providing evidence that both the vehicle and its associated building continued to play a role in the town's public life well into the twentieth century.

The town’s original Hearse House

The word hearse originates from the French herse, meaning “harrow,” a rake-like farm implement used to break up soil. In medieval times, herce also described a triangular frame for holding candles. The term gradually evolved to mean a decorative framework placed over a coffin or tomb, then a platform for the deceased, and eventually the vehicle used to transport the coffin itself.

Before horse-drawn hearses became common, the dead were carried on a bier, a simple hand-carried frame or stretcher on which a shrouded body or coffin was borne to the grave by mourners. Mentioned in the Bible and used since ancient times, early biers had no sides or wheels, though later versions added wheels for easier movement.

By the 1600s, horse-drawn biers replaced hand-carried ones, and the term hearse came to refer specifically to these funeral carriages. Throughout the 19th century, hearses evolved from simple wagons into ornate wooden coaches, often carved from mahogany, fitted with glass windows, and illuminated by lanterns. In 1850, Crane, Breed & Company of Cincinnati began manufacturing metal caskets and hearses, ushering in an era of more elaborate designs. Some large cities, including Chicago and Baltimore, even introduced “tram hearses”, railway cars that transported both caskets and mourners to cemeteries.

By the early 20th century, the age of the horse-drawn hearse drew to a close, replaced by motorized vehicles that marked a new chapter in the history of funeral traditions.