I am a volunteer at my town's Historical Society and we have been puzzled by a number of photographs from around 1890-1900 which show large wooden poles near some of the taller buildings in the village center (church, school, tavern, etc.) One photo shows a pole that's taller than the steeple of the church that's fifty feet away.

More than twice the height and diameter of ordinary telephone poles which appear in later photos, each of these mystery poles has a metal ball at its top and numerous small spikes sticking out of the pole at regular intervals; more spikes than would be needed for climbing the pole.

Someone theorized that these poles were used for lightning protection, and the spikes helped disperse any electrical charge. I haven't found any proof of this interesting theory. Our village is in southern New Hampshire... perhaps there was a very convincing lightning rod salesman?