Category Archives: Cape Cod

Art and gossip at Provincetown Town Hall

Located on Commercial Street, in the center of Provincetown, the recently renovated Town Hall, was not the very first Town Hall built in the town located on the tip of Cape Cod. The first Town Hall was located on HIgh Pole Hill and was built in 1853, but burned down in 1877.  The 22,000 square foot Victorian era

Provincetown Town Hall was completed 1886

Provincetown Town Hall was completed 1886

building, completed in 1886, was constructed to serve as a community gathering place.  Commonly in New England, town’s held their town meetings in churches until Town Halls were constructed to insure the separation of church and state. At one time or another the Provincetown Hall served many functions that included, dance hall, basketball court, and even rolller skating rink.
The Provincetown Art Association and Museum held their early art exhibitions at the Provincetown Town Hall until they were able to acquire and renovate a building of their own.  Along the way, the town amassed a significant art collection that includes two paintings by Charles Hawthorne, “The Crew of the Philomena Manta ” and “Fish Cleaners.” Hawthorne founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899.  Ross Moffet completed two murals in 1934 , “Gathering Beach Plums” and “Spreading Nets” funded by the Public Works of Art Project that helped many struggling artists during the Great Depression.

Visit the Provincetown Town  Hall when you visit the town and see many fine paintings hanging on the walls and in meeting rooms. And yes, the Town Hall does figure into the storyline of the new mystery novel Remaining in Provincetown. There is something going on between the newly hired Town Manager and the publisher and editor of the weekly newspaper. What could it be? Get your copy of the book just released last month and now available at local bookstores and online at Amazon.com in trade paperback and as an ebook. Like us on Facebook. Keep the conversation going.

Provincetown artists instrumental in starting Cape Cod museum

Provincetown Art Association and Museum original building

Provincetown Art Association and Museum original building purchased in 1919

The above vintage postcard shows what the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) looked like before the addition of the Charles Hawthorne Gallery and the subsequent addition of the Contemporary glass wing visitors see today. The veteran institution, located at 460 Commercial Street in the town’s East End,  was founded in 1914 by artists who were seeking both exhibition space and an institution that would be supportive  of the artists who had made the small town on the tip of Cape Cod their home. Oscar Gierberich, Gerrit Beneker, E. Ambrose Webster, Charles Hawthorne, and William Halsail are credited in the history books as being  the founding artists who were supported in their efforts by a number of local businesspeople at the time.The building was initially purchased and renovated in 1919.

PAAM has had a long tradition of organizing a number of exhibitions, some open to members and others juried, during the year. With the addition of more space, a larger permanent collection has been established and a variety of  programs and classes for all ages are offered trhroughout the year, with more going on during the summer season when there is a larger audience. 1914 is almost 100 years ago, and PAAM will thus be celebrating their 100th anniversary next year. Check the PAAM website to find out what is scheduled for this summer and read the new mystery novel Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook  to fully appreciate that importance of how artists have contributed to the community. (Writers are artists too!) The book, just released in April is available at local bookstores, and online at Amazon.com in trade paperback or ebook. Like us on Facebook. Keep the conversation going.

Provincetown Cape Cod Gardens to Admire

Provincetown Cape Cod lovely flower garden

Provincetown Cape Cod lovely flower garden

Provincetown, Cape Cod evokes thoughts of narrow winding streets and views of the water peeking out from between busy gift shops and art galleries, but there is another part of the town, not everyone discovers–the lovely gardens. Some are hidden behind tall thick hedges, but other gardens are readily visible for all to enjoy. Spring has arrived on Cape Cod and enthusiastic gardeners are planting their dahlias, petunias, and zinnias in the upcoming weeks while perennials that include Salvia, daisies, and roses seem to thrive in the sunny sea salt environment. And let us not forgot the Hollyhocks standing strong and tall in so many soft colors. Some of the best gardens in town are one the back side streets, off the beaten track. Sometimes you have to look a little harder beneath the surface to find what you’re really looking for, like unraveling a mystery in a book, and if you are looking for a book set in Provincetown  you’ll want to read the new mystery novel Remaining in Provincetown, just released last month. Now available at local bookstores, online, and at Amazon in trade paperback and ebook. Like us on Facebook. Keep the conversation going. We love hearing from you.

The Smells of Cape Cod and Provincetown

Color version of the dunes

Color version of the dunes

Cape Cod Sand Dunes

Cape Cod Sand Dunes

Provinetown Sand Dunes 100 years ago

Provinetown Sand Dunes 100 years ago

New state road

“Cape Cod has a fragrance all its own”, writes Wainwright J. Wainwright in his book “Cape Cod in Picture and Story” published in 1954,  “characteristic, delightful, hard to describe. It is composed of the salt tang of the sea, the odor of the marshland, the redolence of pines on hot summer afternoons, the scent of sweet fern and bayberry and the sweetness of many flowers.”  Scents help to evoke the feeling of being in a place.  Remaining in Provincetown is about a place, a town– Provincetown, Cape Cod. The new murder mystery is available online, at bookstores, and at Amazon.com. Like us on Facebook.

 

 

The Indian trail road to Race Point Light

The Indian trail road to Race Point Light

Provincetown Cape Cod Commercial Street

downtownThe title of this vintage postcard from approximately 1910 says Commercial Street. Do you recognize those buildings? What are they like today? Not so totally different, than today and just as crowded, just with different people. They are all on there way somewhere. Perhaps to the theater, a bar, a restaurant? There were always plenty of businesses to choose from, even 100 years ago. What’s the town like  when it’s not so busy? Take a look at Remaining in Provincetown. Now available at bookstores, online, and at Amazon.com. Like us on Facebook.

Boston to Provincetown a popular destination!

Arrival of Boston Boat to Provincetown's Railroad Wharf

Arrival of Boston Boat to Provincetown’s Railroad Wharf

Look at all those people who just arrived from Boston, getting off at Provincetown’s Railroad Wharf. They took the ferry to arrive in Provincetown, Cape Cod for their summer holiday. The harbor is filled with beautiful sailboats and the tourists are well dressed in bowlers, summer hats and frocks. They’re excited to be in Provincetown. And we’re excited to tell you about the new murder mystery Remaining in Provincetown. Now available online, at bookstores, and at Amazon.com Like us on facebook.

St. Peters Church in Provincetown

St Peter's Church in Provincetown

Visit St. Peter’s Church today, and you’ll be visiting the new church dedicated in July 2008. The original church was destroyed by fire in January 2005 and only one stained glass window was saved. But the church, dedicated in October 1874 is very much integral to the Provincetown community. Initially when the church was opened,  the majority of the parishioners were Portuguese fishermen and their families, according to the church’s website, they comprised well over 50 percent of the town’s population. The church figures into the storyline of the new murder mystery released in April, Remaining in Provincetown. Many of the characters are parishioners. Want to read more? Now on sale online and at bookstores as well as at Amazon.com. Like us on Facebook.

Provincetown’s Oldest House, a full cape

Built in approximately 1746 Provincetown's Oldest House

Built in approximately 1746 Provincetown’s Oldest House

Located on Commercial Street on the West End of Provincetown, the house purported to be the oldest house was once open to tourists but now is privately owned. As you can see in this antique postcard, the house was once a shop.  Artists Elizabeth and Coulton Waugh ran the Ship Model Shop and Hooked Rug Shop in the Cape Cod cottage built in approximately 1746.  In the front of the house was an arch made of a whale’s jawbone.

Architecturally a full Cape, said to have been built by Seth Nickerson, a ship’s carpenter. Two front windows flank a central doorway and  the windows abut the eaves.  Inside are wide-board floors. It is said that Nickerson built the house from wood salvage from shipwrecks.

Painter and photographer John Gregory, and Adelaide Gregory, a concert pianist, bought the house in 1944. They opened the house to the public, on occasion, but today you’ll just have to imagine its interior as you walk past. Just as you’ll have to imagine just what happens behind closed doors, unless you read Remaining in Provincetown, the new murder mystery released this month, available at stores, online and at Amazon.com. Like us on Facebook.

Like our facebook fan page and you may be selected to receive a FREE advance cppy!

Like our facebook fan page and you may be selected to receive a FREE advance cppy!

 

 

Mayflower Heights and Horses in Provincetown

Mayflower heightsThe geography of Mayflower Heights in Provincetown certainly looks different in this antique postcard when you are approaching by horse and carriage!  Not that many people living in Provincetown, on the tip of Cape Cod actually owned horses. A boat was a more practical means of transportation, for this small town overlooking the Cape Cod Bay. As written  in The Log of Provincetown and Truro on Cape Cod Massachusetts by M.C.M. Hatch, published in 1939:

“In 1829, a Provincetown minister could write to a friend: –“would you believe that there is a town in the United States with eighteen hundred inhabitants and only one horse with one eye? Well that town is Provincetown and I am the only man in it that owns a horse, and he is an old white one with only one eye.”

There’s all different sorts of interesting things you can read about Provincetown written in the past. Or you can read a brand new murder mystery, Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook now available in bookstores, online, and at Amazon.com. Like us on Facebook. Thank you!

 

Provincetown Cape Cod, where did the name come from?

West

How did Provincetown, Massacusetts get its name?
According to Agnes Edwards book, “Cape Cod New and Old”  published in 1918, after the union of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies in 1692 Provincetown, then a part of Truro. became a fishing hamlet.  In 1741 it was set off as a precinct of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay Colony  Initially the lands retained, were owned by the colony.  Province of the Massachusetts Colony became Provincetown. Sounds logical to me. What may not be logical to someone who doesn’t live in Provincetown, why sewage and water usage are such hot button issues. When it comes to real estate use and development, these things are very much on the minds of the characters in the new murder mystery novel, Remaining in Provincetown by S.N.Cook. Now available online and in bookstores, including Amazon.com. Like us on Facebook.