King’s Chapel Debuts Interactive 18th-Century Replica Coffin for Crypt Tours

Noah Good, Marketing Manager and Historic Educator at King’s Chapel in Boston, created an interactive replica coffin for the History Program. The full-size coffin was commissioned last summer for a theatrical production about the 1776 funeral of Dr. Joseph Warren. Brendan Shanahan, a graduate of North Bennett Street School, designed and built the historically inspired coffin, engraving a metal plate with Warren’s name. Good researched 18th-century burial practices, noting coffins were custom-made by local cabinet-makers, often of pine, hexagonal in shape, lined with wood shavings, a mattress or bottom sheet, and a pillow, then displayed in the family home before burial. To decorate the replica reversibly, Good’s mother sewed a black fabric mattress and pillow, and Good assembled a glass jar of wood shavings mixed with rosemary oil donated by coworker Erin. The interactive debuted during candlelit crypt tours last October. Visitors responded positively, often exclaiming “Woah!” at the full-size coffin. Challenges included gravity causing the mattress and pillow to droop; Command Strips failed, but Velcro tape recommended by Historic New England and colleague Isabelle sewing the pillow to the mattress resolved the issue. The project demonstrates how research and creative problem-solving can activate historic objects.