The oldest art colony in America
Provincetown is the America’s oldest art colony. Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930) founded the Provincetown art colony when he opened the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. During the thirty years of Hawthorne’s tutelage the school attracted students and art teachers from America’s cities and hinterlands, eventually led to a year-round art community of young aspiring artists.
The art colony flourished in the first quarter of the twentieth century in a atmosphere of diversity, experimentation and freedom of expression. Eugene O’Neill, considered the father of modern American theater, mounted his first play here on a wharf in the East End in 1915 and today the tradition is carried on by our new Provincetown Theater which is also used as a small convention center.
Art Galleries and Shopping
Provincetown’s abundance of art galleries today reflects the quality and diversity of all the original art created here past and present. Friday evenings in season are traditionally ‘opening’ nights in the galleries found along Commercial Street and everyone’s invited to become an art connoisseur if only for the evening. Shopping is anything but routine in the cosmopolitan climate of Provincetown’s summer community. Many shops offer exquisite collections of local hand crafted merchandise. Clothing, antiques, furniture, cooking utensils, jewelry are available in a bazaar of shops, none of them the same.
Well-fed and Happy
If armies travel on their stomachs its safe to say the same is true for tourists. No one has ever gone hungry visiting Provincetown. The real surprise for our visitors is the diversity and quality of our food - from local, ethnic ‘fast food’ to outdoor cafe fare to the gourmet cuisine served in elegant dining rooms of historic mansions. Think about a very small town having a dinner party and thirty thousand people show up – obviously it’s imperative everyone’s well-fed and happy. All of Provincetown’s restaurants are locally owned and express the individual owners’ tastes and commitment to their cuisine. Given the high cost of doing business in Provincetown, only the best survive and your palate is the beneficiary of this fact of local life.
Entertainment, Nightlife & Fun
Entertainment is ubiquitous in Provincetown. People-watching, theater, music, street performers, concerts, world class celebrity impersonations and cabarets - its hard to escape it unless you’re at the beach where you can bury your head. It’s all done in good fun and without pretense. Tip: look for it in unusual places. While the cabaret scene is marketed right on Commercial Street, you will have to dig a little to find chamber music at PAAM or chorale music at the UU Church.
Beaches and the Cape Cod National Seashore Park (CCNS)
In the early 1960’s the entire ocean side of Cape Cod was preserved as a national park - ocean beaches, critical coastal habitats and endangered wildlife were protected forever. Today you are the beneficiary of this far sighted legislation. Visitor center provide educational exhibits and films, along with information about walking and biking trails, and ranger-guided activities.
Whale Watching
In 1975 Provincetown Dolphin charter fishing boat captain Al Avellar noticed that the only time his clients stopped fishing was to watch whales feeding near the boat. On a hunch he started offering guided excursions to Stellwagen Bank, now a National Marine Sanctuary, so everyone could observe these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat. Thus whale watching was introduced to the East Coast out of Provincetown Harbor. Trips start in mid-April when migrating humpback whales start arriving in Cape Cod Bay and continue to early November when the whales generally depart our waters.
Dune Excursions
Art Costa came back from World War II with a dream that the public would like to explore the vast desert of sand dunes surrounding his home town of Provincetown. Putting fat tires on Model A’s he launched Art’s Dune Tours to carry passengers out into this inaccessible environment. Today a fleet of SUV’s are federally permitted to give the general public access to this protected environment.
Bird Watching
Provincetown’s abundance of migrating shore and sea birds is well documented. The outer Cape peninsular is some forty miles out to sea and migrating fowl use the protected woodlands, ponds, wetlands and salt marshes in the Cape Cod National Seashore Park as a welcome refueling stop on their trips from North to South America and back. The best starting point for bird watching information is the Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary found at www.wellfleetbay.org or the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster at www.ccmnh.org.
If you're planning to visit Provincetown, check out Provincetown Chamber of Commerce site http://www.ptownchamber.com.
Text by Edward Mick Rudd.
