Fort Funk and the Agnes Wood Way in Pinetown

Pinetown is steeped in history and if you know where to look, you’ll find bits of the past scattered all

Agnes Mary Wood Way in Pinetown

around you. By 1855 the population had grown to 151 residents. One of the remembered residents is Mr Archibald Murray who is known as the founding father of Pinetown.

A. K. Murray built the Wayside Hotel in 1850 and then convinced the community to build a fort around it – now known as Fort Funk – in case of a native uprising. Alas, no attack came. Today this site is commemorated by a gun barrel. You’ll find the gun barrel at about 67 Josiah Gumede (Old Main) Road, Pinetown, next to the Pinetown Library and just behind the Wayside Cross.

Along the path next to the Gun Barrel, you’ll notice stone with the words “Agnes Wood Way”. Agnes Mary Wood was a resident of Pinetown and this stone is laid along the path she walked to church. Agnes Wood came from England to marry John Braby Wood in Johannesburg in 1903. The couple settled in Pinetown.