Subsequent investigation revealed that this was the remnant of a
lampblack manufactory, known to the old timers as a Funn. Today this
section of Dennis is called Funntown. The Funn was a lamp chimney
on Gargantuan lines. Anyone who has used a kerosene lamp knows how
annoying it was to have the lamp smoke and smudge the glass. The Funn,
however, was erected for just that purpose, only there was no glass
and the lampblack formed on the ceiling of the Funn thick enough to be
scraped off in layers. Thus, smoky gold was produced.
The relic was found knee-high above the ground, but when the Funn was
in working order it stood 18 feet above the ground and over a circular
area 20 feet in diameter. It was of stone and brick construction, the
top like a great inverted cone. There was an opening on each side. The
winds were important to the industry. So, the Funns were always built
in pairs, the hearth of one facing due east and the other due north.
The prevailing wind on Cape Cod is southwest. The idea was to keep the
smoke from escaping outside the Funn.
The smoke first came from fires of pine knots gathered in the
surrounding woods. Next, after this supply was cut down, resin was
sailed to Dennis from the Carolinas and Virginia. A fuel problem
arose when, in 1860, a Civil War blockade cut off this supply. The
Funn operators then looked to the coal regions of the Pennsylvania
mountains; naphtha, a by-product, was shipped in and this was used up
to the last days when the Funns operated.