Author Denis Johnson in his novella Train Dreams employs historical fiction based on one character, a simple man, Robert Grainier, to illustrate socio-economic change in early 20th century, rural Unites States. While Johnson is concerned with transportation technology and the travails of the timber industry through the human condition, I focus on the link between transportation infrastructure, i.e., the arrival of a modern highway, and the role of darkness in the practice of cultural traditions in the historical town of Paraty, located in the state of Rio de Janeiro on the Atlantic coast of Brazil. This project is intended as one component of a broader overarching project on the value of darkness as part of planning for sustainable futures.