Meet Ray the village lamplighter at SOHPS holiday party

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SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The South Orange Historical and Preservation Society will hold its holiday party, open to members and the public, on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. in a South Orange Public Library meeting room, 65 Scotland Road in South Orange. Admission is free.

A featured part of the party will be meeting South Orange’s real-life lamplighter, Ray Kienzle.

After three decades of maintaining and lighting the famous gas lamps of South Orange, Kienzle has seen it all. He’s a great storyteller and  will share his tales of the gas lamps. The iconic fixtures have been in the village since the Civil War, and while Kienzle wasn’t lighting lamps then, he knows the history.

At 6 foot, 7 inches tall, Kienzle is almost as tall and sturdy as the street lamps. Did PSE&G hire him to save on ladders? What exactly does a lamplighter do in the 21st century? He’s nearing retirement; can he be replaced? What can you do when a lamp on your street goes dim or dead? What’s the story behind the three-headed lamp in front of Village Hall? Will the more than 1,400 gas lamps in the village, the largest number of any town in the country, ever be replaced? Where do necessary parts come from? Where in South Orange is a lamp with a duck sculpture?

Kienzle has the answers.

To RSVP or for more information, call Joel Levin at 973-568-6000.

Photos Courtesy of Joel Levin

  South Orange Historical and Preservation Society, South Orange Public Library