History Archives

Provincetown History Snippets: Who Was Ptown’s Original Bear?

January 10, 2019

History

Provincetown’s Donald Baxter MacMillan went on 30 expeditions to the Far North between 1908 and 1954. He was 34 years old on his first trip and a few days short of 80 when he completed his final journey. “While I would like to go into the Arctic for the...

Provincetown History Snippets: Saving Sailors

January 4, 2019

History

In the early 1800s, winters saw an average of two wrecks off the Outer Cape every month. Many sailors made it to shore—and then froze to death right on the beach. In 1872 an efficient lifesaving service was put into operation, with stations every five miles...

Provincetown History Snippets: Who is Harry Kemp?

December 28, 2018

History

Called the “hero of adolescent Americans,” Harry Kemp was a poet and prose writer who lived and worked in Provincetown during the mid-20th century. What you might not know about him is that he was terminally frustrated with the myth that the Pilgrims...

Provincetown History Snippets: Why was Norman Rockwell in Provincetown?

December 21, 2018

History

It’s not an obvious connection, that between Provincetown and an artist of iconic mid-century Americana, but Norman Rockwell did in fact study here under Charles Hawthorne, and the August 20, 1955 cover of the Saturday Evening Post—titled Mermaid (A Fair...

Provincetown History Snippets: What is Bound East for Cardiff?

December 18, 2018

History

Eugene O’Neill arrived in Ptown in 1916. He was a 27-year-old Princeton dropout who’d been spending his time at sea in a tramp steamer and, almost incidentally, writing some plays. That summer he found a stage for them. In 1915, the summer before...

Provincetown History Snippets: How to Rescue Marine Mammals?

December 7, 2018

History

Cape Cod is one of only a few places in the world where multiple whales and dolphins frequently beach themselves together on the shore. These mass stranding events require rapid response in order to save as many of them as possible. The International Fund for...

Provincetown History Snippets: What Iconic Provincetown Inn is For Sale?

November 30, 2018

History

One of Ptown’s iconic inns is for sale! For more than four decades, this Second-Empire style house has served the needs of Ptown visitors, starting out as the Casa Vistosa in the 1950s. Architect and historian David Dunlap has said it has “one of the best...

Provincetown History Snippets: Race Point Light Station

November 17, 2018

History

Race Point’s name comes from the strong crosscurrent (known as a “race”) that made navigation around the northern tip of Cape Cod a nightmare for sailors. Before the construction of the canal, every vessel traveling along the coast between Boston and...

Provincetown History Snippets: What is the Ice House?

November 9, 2018

History

Anyone who passes the Ice House on Commercial Street in the East End, across from the Schoolhouse, knows how the condominium complex stands out on this residential area. When Provincetown was a major fishing port, fish had to be kept on ice for the journey to...

Provincetown History Snippets: Where was The Provincetown Asylum?

November 2, 2018

History

In the 1800s, it seemed no town was complete without an asylum or almshouse. In some cases, these institutions purported to treat mental illness; in reality, most were designed to warehouse those who couldn’t function in town; there was no social safety net...