Montague Hearse

In Prince Edward Island, we have been using hearses for hundreds of years, and the method of transportation has changed so much. Even today, a hearse is used to carry the people who died to the place where the funeral procession is to take place.

In the 1900's, hearses were buggies pulled by two horses. A hearse also had two small wheels in the front and two big wheels in the back. Now, a hearse has all the same sized wheels, and it is a car, not a buggy. Another thing that was different was that back in the early 1900's, there were two different types of hearses, one for the winter and one for the summer. Now we only have one for all year. The difference between the winter and the summer hearse was that the summer one had wheels, and the winter one had runners. One thing that is the same about hearses both today and in the 1900s is that a hearse is still a vehicle that takes the body of a person who has passed away to the area where the funeral procession is to take place.

Back then, since they didn't have funeral homes, the hearse would take the body to the house (parlour). When in the parlour, they would lie the body on a table, and if anyone wanted to say something about the person who had died, they would. Then after that was done, the hearse would take the body to the location it was to be buried. If not already in the casket, the body would then be placed in one and buried.

This picture was taken in between the years of 1910-1930 in Montague, Prince Edward Island, most likely in the summer time, and probably in the country. The person driving the hearse could be D. L. MacKinnon. The hearse fits into daily life because when someone died, it was the way they took the body from place to place. One odd thing about this picture is that it looks like the picture was taken in an area that was unpopulated.

PARO, Acc 2476/21-2