09/25/2026
Before electric lights were as simple as flipping a switch, illuminating a room took a little more work.
These beautiful brass hanging oil lamps, dating to the mid-to-late 1800s, are about 14 inches across and were originally designed to burn oil. They feature delicate crystals hanging from their brass frames and were likely the kind of fixtures you might have found illuminating a parlor, library, or other important room in a home.
Lamps like these were often called parlor lights or library lights, reflecting the rooms where they were commonly used.
But how did you reach a lamp hanging from the ceiling when it needed to be cleaned or refilled?
Many of these fixtures were suspended using a counterweight pulley system. The lamp could be pulled down when it was time to refill the oil, trim or replace the wick, or clean the fixture. Once the work was finished, it could be raised back into position.
Eventually, these particular lamps were retrofitted for electricity, replacing their original oil-burning mechanisms with light bulb fixtures. The brass frames, oil reservoirs, chimneys, and crystals, however, remain.
The Sterne-Hoya House has two of these beautiful hanging lamps with their shades still intact, as well as a third lamp that no longer has its shade. Together, they offer visitors a glimpse into the changing ways Nacogdoches homes were illuminated as technology changed.
Objects like these remind us that even something as ordinary as turning on a light has a history.
Come visit the Sterne-Hoya House to see these lamps in person, explore other historic artifacts, and learn more about how Nacogdoches residents lived, worked, and furnished their homes.
What modern convenience would you miss most if you had to live in a home lit only by oil lamps?
