Build your own coffin in Pittsburgh region with help of a green burial organization

Pete McQuillin takes off his shoes, steps inside a wooden coffin and smiles, getting a rare glimpse at how he’ll spend eternity.

But, before the 75-year-old takes up permanent residence in the pine box, he plans to use it as a bookshelf.

Within the next month, McQuillin will begin to offer workshops where people can make their own final resting place. In the interim, the receptacle can double as a coffee table or be used for storage.

“The idea really is to help people save money and the environment when they die,” says McQuillin, manager of Penn Forest Natural Burial Park in Penn Hills, near Verona and Oakmont.

The 35-acre cemetery is the state’s first exclusively green burial ground and nature preserve. It offers full-body and cremated remains interment and scattering sites for ashes. About 40% of the 150 people who are buried there rest in biodegradable wooden coffins; other folks go to the grave in burial shrouds, cardboard or wicker containers and banana leaves.

McQuillin, who lives on the property with his wife, Nancy, and purchased the first two plots, says coffins are easier to transport. Families often decorate the box with paint or handwritten sentiments of love before it goes into the ground.

Carpenter Wade Caruso, who runs a greenhouse on the site, is making coffin kits for the workshops. The Verona resident constructed two prototypes in his garage using plans provided by Green Burial Massachusetts, a nonprofit advocacy group that offers its own coffin-making classes and was happy to share the idea.

The coffin is relatively lightweight — Caruso, 44, was able to lift it off of a sawhorse with minimal effort. It can accommodate up to 300 pounds and costs about $500 (compared to a modern casket that carries a price tag of around $5,000). He will cut the lumber, provide the proper parts and tools and instruct students every step of the way. People also have the option of taking the kit home and assembling it on their own.

Workshops for up to eight people will be held at local funeral homes certified by the Green Burial Council, including Hahn Funeral Home in Millvale and Oakmont’s Burkett-Truby Funeral Home.

McQuillin used Green Burial Pittsburgh’s Facebook page to gauge interest in the class. So far, he’s received about a dozen inquiries.

Caruso hasn’t thought much about his own demise, but feels green burial is the “way to go,” referring to Penn Forest’s motto. In his opinion, a coffin-making workshop isn’t morbid — it’s practical and environmentally friendly.

McQuillin is downright giddy when talking about building his own coffin. Facing death helps him appreciate each new day.

“Life is grand and I’m grateful,” he says.