Our friend and Lowell Historical Society colleague Ryan Owen over at “Forgotten New England” offers us an interesting glimpse in to a forgotten but important occupation in Lowell and elsewhere from back in the Victorian era.
Lamplighters turned night into day. A staple of the urban Victorian streetscape, the nostalgic image persists of a lone man, walking a darkening city street as dusk descended behind him, extending his staff to ignite each dark, cold lamp stem to life with a small flame. He would light the way along the lonely city lanes, so that those who were out after dark would not lose their way…
Read the full account here:
http://forgottennewengland.com/2012/11/22/past-occupations-lamplighters-in-lowell-massachusetts/