Beneath the fireplace grate you’ll see a short rod with a ceramic ball attached to a rod. That’s the Cape Cod Lighter! However, there’s more… very popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries these lighters are ingenious requiring no kindling whatsoever to build a fire. The porous unglazed ceramic ball positioned at the end of the rod, which soaks in a pitcher of lamp oil or whale oil, if you can still find it, until you’re ready… light the torchlike rod and place the rod in the fireplace, under the wood, and within 2-3 minutes you see an unimaginable controlled conflagration. It’s magic!
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Pond Mountain Inn 