Oldest Hearse

Inside Plymouth’s historic courthouse, we came across an object that tells a very different kind of hometown story. This horse-drawn hearse dates to about 1820 and is believed to be the oldest surviving hearse in Plymouth. According to the exhibit, it was stored for many years in a small stone building behind First Church.

The hearse belonged to the Plymouth Aqueduct Company, an organization whose history reaches back to 1796. The company was created to bring fresh water from springs and ponds into the center of Plymouth through a system of hollow wooden pipes. It seems strange at first that a water company would own a hearse, but the company became involved in other community services as well. The hearse was used to transport the dead to Plymouth’s burial grounds, including Burial Hill, and remained part of the community for generations.

Looking at it today, it is easy to imagine this simple black carriage slowly making its way through the streets of 19th-century Plymouth. Unlike the elaborate hearses that would come later, there is little decoration. It was a practical vehicle created to perform one of the necessary services of a growing town.

People needed water systems, roads, churches, burial grounds and a way to care for their dead. Preserved here almost two centuries later, this old hearse offers an unexpected glimpse into the everyday workings of the town that grew from that first small settlement.