Provincetown, Cape Cod 100 years ago in this popular town in Massachussets, this photograph was taken when sailors walked the streets and the roads were unpaved. Like the facebook page for the new murder mystery novel Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook and you might be the winner. (Winner chosen at random from the likes on the page. Postcard will be mailed to you by USPS.) Read the book , now available at bookstores (trade paperback) and online and join the conversation when you like us on Facebook.
Tag Archives: antique postcards
Long Point beyond Provincetown, a hidden gem
Long Point Light at the Tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown, Massachusetts
This lovely antique postcard shows Long Point light on the tip of Cape Cod, once the location of a fishing village. The postcard was published by H. A Dickerman and Son. . It’s a handsome color lithographic print from the late 19th century. at a time when it cost just a penny to mail a postcard and two cents if you wanted to send your card outside the United States.
Today, no one lives on Long Point, which makes it a quiet and secluded spot for clothing optional bathing and picnics. If you don’t have a boat, you an hike across the breakwater at the far west end of town, by the Provincetown Inn. The further out you are willing to hike, once you arrive at the point, the more secluded you’ll be. But watch out for the tides, or you may get stranded. If you like Provincetown adventures, don’t miss out on reading Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook. Autographed copies are currently available at the Provincetown Book Shop on Commercial Street. Or you can buy a copy online. The books are available in trade paperback and as an ebook. Like us on Facebookand join the conversation. Send questions to the author via comments on this website. Thank you!
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Remaining in Provincetown
By S.N.Cook.
Truro Works. 306 pages
$12.95 Trade Paperback
HIghland Light Cape Cod’s famous Lighthouse
Standing on the unusual formation called Clay Pounds, one of the largest on the East Coast, the Highland Lighthouse in Truro, Cape Cod was built in 1797 and was the 7th lighthouse to be constructed in the United States.
Built on the highest cliff on Cape Cod, its location has been subject to severe erosion, as much as three feet per year! In 1996 to save the historic lighthouse, it was moved back 450 feet. When you visit, there is a museum on the property, the Highland House Museum with rotating exhibits and local history displays, maintained by the Truro Historical Society.
The radio tower referred to as Radio Beacon in the postcard description was erected by the Navy as a communication station in World War II. The postcard was printed by E D. West and Company. More postcards of this beautiful lighthouse will be seen in subsequent postings on this Remaining in Provincetown website. Haven’t read the book yet? If you love the Outer Cape, Provincetown, or mysteries that involve old postcards and quirky people , this mystery novel is for you. Check us out on Facebook and Amazon. Join the conversation. Signed copies are currently available at the Provincetown Bookshop on Commercial Street in Provincetown as well as a variety of bookstores and online sites. Happy Summer and enjoy the fireworks.
Provincetown art students painting en plein air
Artists at Work, Provincetown Cape Cod
Painting in the open air, (en plein air in French), has been a favorite practice of artists in Provincetown, Massachusetts since Charles Hawthorne (1872- 1930) founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. Given Provincetown’s waterfront setting, one might assume that Hawthorne’s students always set up their box easels on the beach. The sun’s reflection on the water, and the light and shadows on the sand, were perfect starting points to practice the concepts of Impressionism, which put an important emphasis on capturing on canvas, the artist’s impression of how light changes throughout the day. . Not true, as shown in this antique postcard published by H.A. Dickerman & Son, Taunton, Massachusetts in approximately 1900. The students, primarily female, are painting a portrait of the model positioned in the right, dressed in a while summer frock and hat with a long braid. Student artists often used local citizens as their models.
The availability of paints in tubes made painting en plein air, so much easier when compared to the practice of grinding and mixing pigment powders with linseed oil. Notice in the photograph that the boxes to hold paints and contain a palette, also made transporting equipment for painting outside so much easier. Artists came from all over the world. and still do, to live and work in what was originally a fishing village.
Creating art is important to Annie Tinker, a sculptor who first came to Provincetown as a student at the Fine Arts Work Center. One of the characters in the recently released novel, Remaining in Provincetown by S. N. Cook. She’s married to Beau Costa, the former business partner of Sonny Carreiro who has been murdered. Could Beau be a suspect? Haven’t read the book yet? Signed copies are available at the Provincetown Bookshop downtown on Commercial Street or you can buy a trade paperback or ebook online at a variety of sites including Amazon. Visit our Facebook page , like us and join the conversation.
Provincetown Lighthouse at Wood End
Wood End Lighthouse
Provincetown, Cape Cod
By Moonlight
These two antique postcards show Wood End Lighthouse in Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod by night and by day. Completed in 1872, joining nearby Long Point lighthouse and Race Point Lighthouse., which were both established in 1826. Before the 30 foot tall brick tower was erected, there was a pyramidal beacon established in its location in 1864. The new lighthouse put into service in 1872 had a Fresnel lens that flashed every 15 seconds along with an adjacent light keepers dwelling. Congress had appropriated $25,000 in the 1872 federal budget for Wood End lighthouse to help stem the number of ships being wrecked off the furthermost tip of Cape Cod.
Not accessible by any road, one way to visit the Wood End Lighthouse is to walk across the breakwater by the Provincetown Inn. This past October the Cape Cod chapter of the Lighthouse Foundation, repainted the handsome antique lighthouse which was automated in 1961 and was converted to solar power in 1981.
Despite the establishment of three lighthouses on the tip of Cape Cod, ships still were wrecked on the sand bars near Provincetown. In 1872 a life saving station was set up at Race Point and another one added at Wood End in 1896. If you have read the book Remaining in Provincetown, you might remember that postcard collector Sonny Carreiro was particularly interested in antique postcards related to the Lifesaving stations. Haven’t read the book? It’s available at the Provincetown Bookshop and online at Amazon and other booksellers in trade paperback and as an ebook. Like us on Facebook and become part of the conversation about this new mystery novel where Provincetown plays the starring role.
Antique Postcard of Wood End Lighthouse in Provincetown, Massachusetts
New Provincetown Book inspired by Town Crier history
Provinetown, Cape Cod vintage postcard
A rare antique postcard shows two of Provincetown’s early 20th century Town Criers together in one photograph: George W. Ready and Walter T. Smith. George Washington Ready wore regular street clothes while practicing his profession, clothes that gradually became more old and dilapidated as he advanced in age. He was known to have a remarkable vocabulary, but in his official capacity as Town Crier, restricted his language to what he was contracted to recite.
Walter T. Smith, known as “Hoppy” Smith served as the Provincetown Town Crier for 27 years and at age 78 resigned his post due to lameness in 1927. (Perhaps he walked with a hopping gait and thereby the nickname?) The July 16, 1927 Farmers Advocate newspaper published in their weekly issue that “he is believed to be the last Town Crier in the country” But of course her was not the last Town Crier, because Amos Kubik went on to succeed him, as documented in a 1938 Provincetown Advocate article about Kubik making a trip from Provincetown, Massachusetts to Washington D.C. to perform at the National Folk Festival on the Mall.
In the 1980s Gene Poyant went on to revive the Town Crier Tradition on Cape Cod and now the calling of being a Town Crier has been revived in many cities globally. There is a World Invitational Town Crier Championship from August lst to August 5, 2013 in Kingston Ontario.
And while Provincetown doesn’t currently have a Town Crier it might have been an inspiration for the name of a local magazine because freedom of the press and breaking up the monopoly of one small town newspaper is a big issue with the characters in the new Provincetown book Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook. Antique postcards are also important in the story. Native son Sonny Carreiro is an obsessive collector. Haven’t read the book yet? Signed copies are for sale at the Provincetown Bookshop and copies are also available online in trade paperback and on kindle. Find out what people are talking about on our Facebook page.
Like our facebook fan page and you may be selected to receive a FREE advance cppy!
Remaining in Provincetown
By S.N.Cook.
Truro Works. 306 pages
$12.95 Trade Paperback
Provincetown artists instrumental in starting Cape Cod museum
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.
The Smells of Cape Cod and Provincetown
Color version of the dunes
Cape Cod Sand Dunes
Provinetown Sand Dunes 100 years ago
“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
Provincetown’s Oldest House, a full cape
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.
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Hollyhocks a Provincetown Cape Cod favorite flower
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.
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.
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