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Provincetown

The Bas relief, across from Town Hall on Bradford Street, commemorates the signing of the Mayflower Compact in Provincetown harbor.

As far as we know, the true natives of Cape Cod, the Wampanoag Indians, never established permanent settlements here at the tip of the Cape although members of individual bands did venture out to fish and hunt in the summer months.

Early European explorers, the adventurous Scandinavian Vikings and the ambitious scouts sent forth by England's Kings, came and went without finding the sea passages or the plunder they sought. Pirates in raiding ships like the Whydah (whose remains were found in shallow waters off Wellfleet in 1984) had hideouts along the coves but never stayed for very long.

Eventually good fishing on the Grand, Stellwagen and Georges Banks brought a hardy race of predominantly Portuguese fishermen to the Province Lands. Summer camps were established to come ashore, mend nets and salt the catch. Eventually some stout-hearted souls took to wintering over and a small community of 'year-rounders' began to form in Provincetown.

This cultural phenomenon - a diverse, fluid, transient population that bulges in the warmer weather, continues today.

 

 

 

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