Coffin doors or a door exiting directly from the parlor are found in
Southern New England center chimney dwellings to the federal period.  By
1780 they are gone.  As I say this I'm sure someone will find an exception.

  Center chimney dwellings of the 17th and early 18th century were one room
deep. On one side of the chimney was the parlor, on the other side the hall.
With the advent of the lean-to and the full second story plan came the
kitchen but the front rooms were still refereed to as parlor and hall.  An
end chimney dwelling, a dwelling of only one room, having only a hall was
common into the beginning of the 19th century.  All life was carried out in
one room.  Coffin doors were not a consideration.  See SPNEA, Old-Time New
England Vol 77, No 267 pg . 65  Hepsibeth Hemenway's Portrait, " The
building was small, measuring roughly fifteen by eleven."  "...there were as
many as nine people including four adults crowded into the first floor of
the tiny house."  In the small basement below were"...the Conner family...
numbering six, including two young boys." Therefore the addition of a parlor
with a coffin door was an improvement, an amenity.

The doors were located in the front corner of the parlor.  The hinge
pintails driven into the stud adjacent to the corner post.   The door would
swing in against the front wall, out of the way.  These doors were generally
equipped with a lock or back brace so they could be secured when not used.
They were also of adequate width to move a coffin in and out.  When one
observes how confining a front porch or entry is it is immediately evident
how a coffin could not be moved into a parlor by that entrance.  I should
also note that not all dwellings were equipped with coffin doors.  Many were
blocked up and clapboarded over as the style went out.  The fenestration was
not altered compared to a structure without a coffin door when one was
provided during construction.  Therefore, there may be coffin doors that
have yet to be discovered buried under siding and plaster.

Sometimes I have found coffin horses, coffin cranes and on occasion coffins
in attics of dwellings and general store lofts.

Bill