#lightningrods

By: Lisa Timmerman, Executive Director

“The Merchants, like most people in early days, were afraid of fire. There was not much chance of saving a house once the fire had a start,” reminisced Mrs. Annie Keys Cline Shumate when she reflected on the “old house” that caught her attention. Like many residents in the late 1800s to early 1900s, the Merchant family added a lightning rod to the top of their home both popular for safety and decorative purposes. While there are many myths regarding lightning rods, the Merchant copper forked tip and rod of twisted design with glass base certainly added a heightened element to the house on the corner.

(Merchant Family’s Lightning Rod, Discovered & Removed from the Top of the Historic House)

Although lightning rods do not attract lightning, they do help dissipate electrical energy safely to the ground, if installed properly with the grounding wire causing the current to bypass the structure to the ground. Lightning rods have a strangely functional, political, and fashionable history. While Benjamin Franklin comes to mind first with his famous experiments, another scientist also played with electricity in 1752. After reading Franklin’s books, French scientist Thomas-Francois Dalibard successfully drew sparks by setting up a tall iron rod insulated from the ground with wine bottles. A month later, Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment using a silk ribbon, key, and kite composed of silk and cedar. Franklin furthered his testing with iron rods attached to his house, publishing and sharing his critical research and results. While Franklin advocated a sharp pointed rod, the English preferred a blunt tipped instrument thinking it was less likely to be struck, and this became a visual political symbol for structures. King George III purportedly changed the sharpened rods at Buckingham Palace as a sign of displeasure for his previous rebellious subjects. In France, lightning rod safety extended to haute couture when men styled lightning umbrellas, para-pluie paratonnerre, and women wore lightning rod hats, chapeau paratonnerre, designed with a ribbon of metal on the hat with a chain extending to the ground.

The Merchant’s probably purchased their rod during the late 1800s – early 1900s as the rods became popular in homes along with certain decorative elements. Appearing during this time, the glass globe either served a decorative or functional purpose…or both! People thought a cracked glass globe indicated lightning strikes and oral histories state lightning rod salesmen would pay for people to shoot them. Ours appears to be intact so perhaps our house has escaped the Norse God Thor’s notice.

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How important are lightning rods?