History Archives

Provincetown History Snippet: The Decade of the Cocktail

February 14, 2020

History

The 1950s in Provincetown were years of rampant homophobia, what one innkeeper called “the witch-hunt days.” In 1952, selectmen tightened liquor and entertainment licenses in an attempt to discourage “the habitual gathering-place of homosexuals of...

Provincetown History Snippets: What is The Story of the Pilgrims?

January 31, 2020

History

On September 16, 1620, a ship called the Mayflower left from Plymouth, England, to voyage to America—the New World. Everyone on the Mayflower was looking for something. Some wanted a fresh start, an economic opportunity; others sought religious...

Provincetown History Snippet: World War I

January 24, 2020

History

A contingent of anti-submarine boats was stationed at the Provincetown Naval Base for the duration of the First World War—to the very vocal distress of townspeople, who complained that the submarine activity was interfering with the weir fishing going on in...

Provincetown History Snippet: Gosnold and Cape Cod

January 17, 2020

History

On May 15, 1602, English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold dropped anchor in a broad harbor he called “Shoal Hope,” meaning “shallow harbor”; we call it Provincetown. (Ironically, it’s one of the world’s deepest natural harbors; what did Gosnold know?)...

Provincetown History Snippet: The Maine Sea Captain’s Artist Son

January 10, 2020

History

Charles W. Hawthorne was the son of a Maine sea captain who arrived in Provincetown in 1899 after studying painting in New York; he was attracted to the light. Living here was cheaper than New York: fishermen’s wives and widows were renting rooms and sheds...

Provincetown History Snippet: The Mackerel Fleet

December 20, 2019

History

Provincetown’s fishing fleet has traditionally gone after tuna, cod, haddock, and striped bass, but for many years it’s mackerel—a migratory fish arriving off the Cape in summer—that was one of the area’s primary catches. The mackerel...

Provincetown History Snippet: How Did Harry Kemp Die?

December 13, 2019

History

He had lived alone for years in one of the dune shacks on Provincetown’s back shore, but poet Harry Kemp spent his last days in a cottage on Howland Street built by his friend Sunny Tasha especially for him. He died on August 8, 1960, of a cerebral...

Provincetown History Snippet: Old Reliable Fish House

November 29, 2019

History

Between Lancy’s Wharf and the engine house of the Colonial Cold Storage plant is a three-story building that once housed the Old Reliable Fish House restaurant and pier, now a forlornly abandoned near-ruin. The structure was a prominent pier from the...

Provincetown History Snippet: The KKK in Provincetown

November 22, 2019

History

The first Catholics in Provincetown were Irish, and had come here to work in fish-related industries such as salt works and flake yards. There were only 70 of them in 1851, but with the influx of Portuguese families, by 1887 there were 1,730 Catholics in...

Provincetown History Snippet: The Lost Tea Party Ship

November 15, 2019

History

In December of 1773 the Boston Sons of Liberty destroyed three shiploads of tea in Boston Harbor, setting the fuse for the American Revolution. But did you know there were supposed to be four ships there? The William was wrecked off Provincetown on its way to...