I spent my summers with a coughing do'h( early cape home 1687)
there was always speculation  as to its origin .....thanks for insight and
grounding.......
signed swampy
  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
>
>