After the fire was quenched, a man would enter the Funn with a 12-foot
pole and a board at the end, somewhat like a hoe. For protection
against the showering soot he wore a straw hat with a brim that went
beyond his shoulders, and with his long scraper he would reap the heavy
coatings of smoky gold. It would be poured into boxes, then taken to an
adjacent packing shed, where the boxes would be sealed for shipment.
Oxen then would cart the smoky gold to the East Dennis shore, where
crews of the clipper ships that sailed the seven seas put in. It would
go to Boston by sail, a trip of 10 to 11 hours if the wind was good.
On the oldtime Boston docks Cape Cod lampblack would join the company
of spices and silks from India, the teas from China, Java’s coffee and
sugar from the West Indies and become a part of the adventurous world
commerce of the clipper days.
“Time moves on to ever new discoveries,” wrote Edna Cornell, telling
the story of smoky gold in a bulletin of The Society for the
Preservation of New England Antiquities. “The wonder of yesterday is
the forgotten glory of today. The Funns were new and amazing a century
ago; but industry, always in a hurry, outstripped them long ago, and
they are now only a few scattered bricks, a few garden walks and a
fireplace. Nevertheless, like all big and influential things, no matter
of what antiquity or deep obliteration, they have left a footprint
behind them that time has not yet erased nor witchgrass on a Cape Cod
farm completely hidden.”