What's this?

[Purron]

Hey everyone, still kicking back but still following the forum. I've got a question for you all.

Our house and the one next door were built in the late 1940s. According to Mary, an elderly lady we’ve known for decades who lives in the neighborhood, the original residents of the two houses were related. She told us there used to be a path between our house and the one next door.

We noticed this buried in a tree between the two houses. It looks like a light fixture of some sort, perhaps to illuminate the path Mary alluded to, but we’re not sure. How would this have been powered? Both our lot and the one next door are on 2+ acre lots. This fixture in the tree is far from any source of power for a light.

Any thoughts on what this is?

 

[REattempt]

Lamp/Light fixture...

It is a lamp/light fixture. Likely for the path as you explained. It was likely powered by an underground wire that went up the tree and a switch in the house.

 

[Stanley]

The tree probably grew up around the light fixture just as this tree grew up around the bicycle.

 

[Animorph]

Looks like it is missing the glass globe, but the set screw is still there to hold it in place?

 

[REattempt]

Swan neck street lamp...


http://www.skinflintdesign.co.uk/st...h_factory_lights_with_swan_neck_brackets.html