Search Results for: History Snippets

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 Boston or New York, and the waterfront was lined...

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 for the poor and those who couldn’t work. In 1806, a private...

What happened to Billingsgate Island? It used to be a prosperous fishing town, but many on the Outer Cape today have never even heard of it. An unexpected storm in 1855 cut the island nearly in half; the lighthouse was moved and in 1888 a seawall was constructed, but erosion had set in and eventually...

Cottage communities are synonymous with Cape living, and right at the edge of Provincetown is the Beach Point Club, previously known as the Harbor Lights Village. It’s hybrid: some standalone cottages, some attached units, and in the back (toward the bay) an old motel refashioned into condos. In September of 1957, Elizabeth Taylor and Michael...

Once a natural embayment deep enough to serve as winter quarters for Provincetown’s fishing fleet, the body of water across from Beach Point was once known as Eastern Harbor, then as East Harbor. It was diked in 1868 (so that the railroad connecting Provincetown to the mainland and thus enabled a new chapter in the...

The Cape Cod School of Art was the first outdoor summer school for figure painting, becoming over time one of the country’s leading art schools. The school was founded and directed by Charles Hawthorne, who gave weekly criticisms and instructive talks, guiding his students, setting up ideals, but never imposing his own technique or method....

It’s the Pilgrim Monument, built by Cape Cod’s oldest not-for-profit organization to commemorate the Mayflower Pilgrims’ first landing in November of 1620. President Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone in 1907 and three years later President William Howard Taft dedicated the finished 252-foot tower. The design was controversial because of its lack of relevance to the...

Tennessee Williams spent four summer seasons in Provincetown (1940, 1941, 1944, and 1947) where he wrote plays, short stories, and glowing poetry. He experienced a lot of drama offstage as well as on, falling in love, having his heart broken, surviving a purported attempt on his life, and experiencing both wealth and poverty. He took...