Category Archives: Writing

Provincetown, Cape Cod postcard puts the emphasis on quaint

Vintage chrome postcard.

Vintage chrome postcard.

Greeting from Quaint Cape Cod, says the vintage 1960s postcard. So exactly what does quaint mean? Well it depends on which dictionary you consult. In the “Free online dictionary” the primary definition of the word quaint is:“Charmingly odd, especially in an old-fashioned way. “Miriam Webster’s primary definition is: obsolete and their secondary definition is:  “marked by skillful design or marked by beauty and elegance.” Other meanings of the word quaint emphasize the uniqueness of the person, item, or place. Call something quaint and not only is it a little different, but possibly it takes you out of your comfort zone.

How do you describe a place like Cape Cod, rich in history, beautiful, unique, and yes different—particularly Provincetown, the town on Cape Cod’s very tip ? And if you write a book about the town, how do you capture all the different nuances and various types of people who call Provincetown their home. Remaining in Provincetown, the new mystery novel released in April, doesn’t always follow the rules when it comes to traditional mystery stories. There are lots of characters and lots going on, as there is with a town as “quaint” as Provincetown. Want to find out more? Pick up a copy of Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook at your local bookstore (now in stock at Provincetown Bookshop) or online at various sites at Amazon.com in trade paperback and as  an ebook. Like us on Facebook. Keep the conversation going.


Provincetown Cape Cod view from the beach

A view from the shore of Provincetown, Cape Cod's East End

A view from the shore of Provincetown, Cape Cod’s East End

As shown in this antique postcard of Provincetown, Cape Cod, the waterfront houses were boarded up in the off-season. Primarily owned by summer residents, they offer a beautiful view of Cape Cod Bay looking out towards the Long Point Lighthouse.   Many of the buildings have retained their charm, and look similar to the way they appeared in the late 19th century when this postcard was printed in Germany. While many visitors like to walk along Commercial Street so they can poke their heads into art galleries and shops, a wonderful way to soak up the beauty of the town is to walk along the beach at low tide. (When the tide is high you may not have a place to walk.) Plus you never know what might wash ashore.

Roz SIlva, the female protagonist in the new murder mystery Remaining in Provincetown, frequently walks along the beach to clear her head and think. As publisher and editor of the town’s weekly newspaper she has a lot on her plate, particularly because she is trying to figure out who killed real estate entrepreneur Sonny Carreiro, just as spring is beginning to arrive and the town is getting ready for the summer season.  Want to find out more, check out the new novel by S.N. Cook, 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.

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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 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’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?

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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.

 

Hollyhocks a Provincetown Cape Cod favorite flower

Hollyhock Lane glimpse of the harbor

Hollyhock Lane glimpse of the Provincetown harbor

Admiring the gardens as you walk downtown  is part of the summer experience when you visit Provincetown and hollyhocks are a favorite flower. Their height and various colors makes a nice contrast to other blossoms. According to English botantist Wedgewood, The name holly came from  “holy” because the first of the plants brought to southern Europe came from the Holy Land, having been transplanted there from the orient.  It does well in  all climates and soils. During  the Middle Ages, and it is mentioned as “holy-hoke”, an adaptation of the Welsh name, in a British horticultural treatise of 1548. Here is another lovely antique postcard.

Holly Hock Lane with the Provincetown monument in the background.

Holly Hock Lane with the Provincetown monument in the background.

If you enjoy reading about Provincetown, you should enjoy the murder mystery just published this month, Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook, available online, at bookstores 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!

 

 

Provincetown Cape Cod setting for mystery and love

Fishing Boats at Provinetown, Cape Cod Mass. circa 1900

Fishing Boats at Provincetown, Cape Cod Mass. circa 1900

The above antique postcard shows the beauty of the Provincetown shoreline, viewing it from the harbor. While fishing boats are fewer, the beauty of the Cape Cod town known for its art galleries, bars, restaurants, and shops has gone through many evolutions through the decades, but is still a compelling place.  As described in the new murder mystery Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook, “Whatever their disagreements, members of the Provincetown community were united in their love of the sea and sand dunes, along with the winding, narrow streets and nineteenth century architecture that dominated this small New England town.” Want to read more? The 306 page paperback is available at a number of online sites and at bookstores including Amazon.com and is also available as an ebook on kindle. Don’t forget to like us on facebook. We’ll be giving away one more FREE book this week to a facebook fan.

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!