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| Photo by Patrick Conn, PCONN, Flickr, "Around the House." |
My grandfather was a collector. He collected everything from old tobacco cutters, to antique scales, to toy metal cars to coal company script. One of his favorite things to collect was antique glass insulators. A few years ago, my grandmother took me out to her old barn, showed me an old crate full of glass insulators, and told me they had belonged to my Grandfather...and now I could have them. My "Granddaddy" was adored by my brother and me, so to inherit anything that had been important to him was a thrill for me. They were dirty and heavy, but I somehow managed to heave the crate and its contents to my old car. I still have all these old insulators, and every time I see them, they bring a smile to my face. I have no idea WHAT to do with them, but they make me smile nonetheless.
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| Photo by Julie Green, DestinyCaptured, Flickr |
My husband has encouraged me to get rid of them. I don't think I could do that. These pieces of glass are a part of history. Some glass insulators were made as early as the 1850's and used for telegraph lines. Later, they were used for telephone and power lines. Imagine all the communications that have passed by these little treasures! If only THEY could talk!
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| Boston in the 1860's in front of Old State House. Notice over the tops of the buildings all the old insulators! |
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| Memphis, Tennessee, 1907, Union Depot. Wow...look at all the poles and all those insulators! |
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| Louisville, Kentucky, 1906, Corner of Fourth and Main. Here's a nice closeup of a pole with insulators...many, many insulators! |
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| Hemingray Advertisement, 1926 |
In an attempt to find a creative way to display my antique glass insulators, I discovered on the internet an absolutely WONDERFUL idea! Pendant lights made from glass insulators! Below is a photograph of those listed on Remodelista.com. Aren't they FABULOUS? Now I won't rest until I can find someone who can turn my Granddaddy's old insulator collection into pendent lights for our house.
I am looking for other interesting things to do with these little pieces of glass. If anyone has any ideas, I would truly appreciate you sharing them here. I would love to find creative and wonderful ways of displaying these sentimental collectibles.
Emeralds in the Sky
A booming train derailed the silent night
The fallen poles in skins of moss unroll
A trains conductor pounding rails in-flight
Around the glass, and through the wires control
The rare conductors weren't common names
Those colored jewels, emeralds in the sky
Atop the threaded perch, flamboyant flames
Where mustard yeller insulators spy
A million miles of wire across this land
Converting sounds from golden amber girls
To ears of purple ponies on demand
With pleated skirts a dancing dancer whirls
The hemingrays beside the lost zicme
Between the poles a catenaries sag
Our saddened faces watch a crosses plea
In piles of poles and crosses, raise the flag
Memories wonder through our minds of glass
Our crystal balls of color now amass
In homes of those who wonder why, and as
Memories never fading from our eyes
Our minds release the emeralds to the skies.
~Wesley Willis, 2007
Happy end-of-July,
