Unique 19th-Century RI Homes Built to ‘Split’ Lightning

Since the very beginning of settlement in New England, area residents have been highly superstitious people.

Thanks to the Puritans, who believed in constant battles of good and evil, many odd traditions remain to this day. Acts like throwing salt over your shoulder if you spill some or rubbing the first snow of the season on your hands to keep them from being sore all winter, are still practiced by many New Englanders.

Even some long-standing Rhode Island architecture is a reminder of the odd beliefs of our ancestors.

Yes, homes in the Ocean State represent a 19th-century fear of lightning strikes — and the poetic (though scientifically inaccurate) way people thought they could prevent them.

READ MORE: 13 Common Superstitions and Why We Still Swear By Them

It's called the Lightning Splitter home and it is only found in Rhode Island.

Origins of the Lightning Splitter Folklore

These unique, steeply gabled homes harken back to mid-1800s folklore which said that these knife-edged roofs could "split" or deflect lightning during a storm and keep the family inside cleverly protected.

Though the theory of an exaggerated gable "splitting" a bolt of lightning in half and guiding it safely to the ground sounds silly now, in the 1850s it was a plausible form of storm protection. New Lightning Splitter homes were built around this time, while several older homes were given steep gable additions.

READ MORE: Stay in This Historic House That's Older Than America

The superstition (and architectural style) died out fairly quickly and today only three such houses remain in existence.

Daniel Pearce House - Transit Street, Providence

One of the more iconic Lightning Splitter homes, this 1781 build had its stand-out steep gable added in the mid-1800s. Like many of these additions, the new roof meant adding a small third floor/attic space to the home.

Bicknell-Armington House - Pawtucket Ave, East Providence

Wider at the first floor, this circa 1827 home's steep gable doesn't seem as dramatic as the one on Transit St. Here too the lightning splitter roof was added to the home around the 1850s, when other modifications were also made.

Halsey Street, Providence

Larger than the other two Lightning Splitter homes left in Rhode Island, this 3-bedroom house on Halsey St features it's gable from the side, not the front. Built in 1846 to be a Lightning Splitter home, it incorporated the superstitious trend into a stunning four story home.

Sadly as the trend died out and former Lightning Splitter homes were remodeled, the number of these unique to Rhode Island houses dwindled. Today only a handful remain to remind us of a time before lightning rods, when folklore was how people thought to protect themselves during a storm.