Building the hearse

We bought an older market wagon last fall. We bought it for the steel wheels that we thought we would build cross country combined driving carts over. When we got it home, we realized that it was quite a nice little wagon with a good undercarriage. It has a few problems that we will have to work with, but on the whole it is solid and well built. We have some lovely wooden wheels that we can put on the wagon when we take off the steel wheels. So what to do with it.

Well, a number of people have asked if we had a wagon that could be used as a hearse, because there are many people who would like a quieter, more natural way to be buried. Actually I would love to have my coffin taken to the graveyard behind two or four nice high stepping horses.

One of the old venerated horsemen in our town was buried in Barkerville and his coffin was carried to the old cemetary by a wagon pulled by his driving horses. When the final prayer was said, the horses stood so quietly and seemed to bow their heads to say goodbye to their long time friend.

So we may be building a hearse in the next while. It will be a Cariboo hearse, but with nice trappings, not as fancy as some that I have seen, but respectful, showing reverence for the person it is honored to carry. We will probably pull it with a good team of standardbreds. I need to make the side drapes for the horses and the curtains for the inside of the glass windows in the body of the hearse. To see a beautiful hearse, follow this lead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJYnqBtDGGo&NR=1 . Ours will not be quite that fancy, but it will be well built and have a Cariboo stamp. We will keep you up to date with our plans and work.