October 16, 2020

Today we share an introductory look to next week's online presentation, A Series of Macabre Events.  Whether or not you're from South Windsor, this live presentation with Wood archivist Leith Johnson will uncover peculiar stories of ghosts, cemeteries and crimes in South Windsor's past.  Learn something new, look at a building a little differently, and most importantly, be entertained!  

Do you know what a coffin door is?

Customs related to funerals have changed greatly over the decades. While the practice today is to pay final respects to a person who has passed in a facility designed for that purpose, such as a funeral home, that was not commonly done until the late nineteenth century. Before that, family and friends gathered in the deceased’s home, where the funeral was held.

New Englanders in the 1700 and 1800s, particularly those in Connecticut, included an architectural feature in their houses that made home funerals more manageable. As you travel around South Windsor, you can still see some houses constructed during this time that have coffin doors. The term “coffin door” first appears in 20th-century house descriptions, so it’s unlikely it was known to the original builders. The coffin would have been placed in the best room of the house, the parlor, and then brought to the church or cemetery for final services. The coffin door is thought to have allowed for a coffin to be moved directly out of the house from the parlor without making a tight turn into the main entrance. Whether that is the purpose for which coffin doors were built is not known, but the name has stuck nonetheless.

Many coffin doors can still be seen on Main Street.  Have you ever noticed these peculiar doors before?

Join us for the online presentation:

A Series of Macabre Events

Saturday, October 24, 2020

6:30pm

The registration fee for this online program is only $10 per person, and the presentation will be followed by a live Q&A.  You’ll simply click on a link to join the presentation and do not need a web camera or microphone!  Register on our website.