Water view of 'Provincetown Harbor'.
'Provincetown Harbor' is a large
natural harbor located off of the town of
Provincetown,
Massachusetts. The
harbor is mostly 30 to deep and stretches roughly one mile from north to south and two miles (3 km) from east to west, i.e., one large, deep bowl with no
dredged channel necessary for boats to enter and exit.
A tall green
buoy east of Long Point (i.e., the tip of
Cape Cod) marks the entrance to Provincetown Harbor from
Cape Cod Bay. Several of the landmarks described in this article are identified on the aerial view shown at
WikiMapia.
Tours
Viking Princess Harbor Cruises
[1] offers among their tour options
[2] a historical sightseeing tour
[3] and a Critter Cruise
[4] to explore harbor marine life.
Commercial Use
1922 postcard of steamship ferry service between Provincetown and Boston on the Dorothy Bradford.
Roughly a dozen
fishing trawlers (locally known as "draggers"),
ferries to
Boston and
Plymouth, Massachusetts, several different sportfishing boats, boat rentals, and other commercial boats also use the harbor today. East Coast
whalewatching on
Stellwagen Bank originated as a joint effort of the Dolphin Fleet and the Center for Coastal Studies leaving from MacMillan Pier in 1975.
History
Most of Cape Cod was created by the
Laurentide Glacier between 18,000 and 15,000 years ago. However, the
Provincetown Spit, i.e., the land surrounding Provincetown Harbor from High Head in
North Truro through all of
Provincetown, consists largely of marine deposits transported from farther up the shore during the last 6,000 years.
[5]
A stone wall
[6] discovered in Provincetown in 1805 is thought to have been built by
Viking Thorwald Ericson about
1007 AD,
[7] when according to translations of
Norse sagas, the keel of Ericson's ship was repaired in the harbor.
[8]
Bartholomew Gosnold explored the harbor in
1602, and his mate Gabriel Archer wrote:
"The fifteenth day of May we had again sight of the land, which made ahead, being as we thought an island, by reason of a large sound that appeared westward between it and the main, for coming to the west end thereof, we did perceive a large opening, we called it Shoal Hope. Near this cape we came to anchor in fifteen fathoms, where we took great store of codfish, for which we altered the name, and 'called it Cape Cod'. Here we saw sculls of herring, mackerel, and other small fish, in great abundance. This is a low sandy shoal, but without danger..."[9]
John Smith explored the harbor in
1614 and wrote:
"Cape Cod... is only a headland of high hills of sand, overgrown with shrubby pines, hurts, and such trash, but an excellent harbor for all weathers. This Cape is made by the main sea on the one side, and a great bay on the other, in form of a sickle..."[10]
Long Point Light at the tip of Cape Cod
Provincetown Harbor was the initial anchoring place of the
Pilgrims traveling on the
Mayflower in
1620, before they proceeded to
Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Thoreau later observed
[11] that Smith's description of the harbor may have been less colored by the hardships of transoceanic troubles than the Pilgrims'.
Mourt's Relation describes the harbor as,
"a good harbor and pleasant bay, circled round, except in the entrance, which is about four miles (6 km) over from land to land, compassed about to the very sea with oaks, pines, juniper, sassafras, and other sweet wood; it is a harbor wherein 1000 sail of ships may safely ride, there we relieved ourselves with wood and water, and refreshed our people, while our shallop was fitted to coast the bay, to search for an habitation: there was the greatest store of fowl we ever saw."[12]
The
Mayflower held several different
passengers in addition to the Pilgrims on its first transoceanic voyage. Before coming ashore at the extreme northwest corner of the harbor, the Pilgrims and other settlers signed the
Mayflower Compact in the harbor on November 21, 1620.
[13] Dorothy Bradford, the first wife of
William Bradford, was one of the first adult Pilgrims to die in the New World. According to the only known written description of her death
[14] from close to when it actually occurred, she fell overboard from the
Mayflower in Provincetown Harbor on December 7, 1620 and drowned.
[15] Peregrine White, the first child born to the Pilgrims in
New England, was born while they were in Provincetown Harbor.
Nothing obvious remains of an old fishing village at Long Point during the 19th century.
[16]
The
Portland gale of
1898 destroyed several
wharves and
fishing boats within the harbor.
The harbor is the southern boundary of the
Provincetown historic district, which is on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Landmarks
Two main parallel wharves dominated the center of the harbor in the late 1800s: Railroad Wharf and Steamboat Wharf.
President Grant visited Provincetown for the opening of the railroad in 1874.
[17] Today, the
wharves have been replaced by
piers. Although rail and steamboat service to Provincetown both ended long ago, ferry service continues.
'MacMillan Pier', the town pier of Provincetown, was significantly renovated and expanded during 2003-2005 with the help of a $1.95 million low interest
loan from the
Rural Development program of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
[18] The pier primarily serves
tourists and high-speed ferries to Boston and Plymouth that charge their
passengers up to $44 per one-way trip.
[19][20] The Provincetown Public Pier Corporation
[21] (PPPC) entered into a 20-year lease agreeement for MacMillan Pier operations in 2005.
[22] The pier is named after
arctic explorer
Donald B. MacMillan, a Provincetown native who retired to Provincetown and died there in 1970.
The barge Provincia
West End Breakwater at low tide; Wood End Light in distance.
Immediately parallel to MacMillan Pier is Cabral Pier, also known as "Fisherman's Wharf."
[23] ''They Also Faced the Sea'' is an outdoor art installation of five large portraits of local
Portuguese-American women photographed by Norma Holt hanging since 2003 on one side and one end of the old fish-packing plant on Cabral Pier.
[24] Along the other side of Cabral Pier sits the Provincia, an enormous former Navy barracks barge from
World War II purchased by Robert Cabral.
[25]
In both 1907 and 1910, when the
Pilgrim Monument began construction and when it was dedicated, the entire
Atlantic fleet of the
U.S. Navy was inside the harbor for large ceremonies led by Presidents
Theodore Roosevelt and
William Howard Taft, respectively.
The harbor affords views of three working
lighthouses: Long Point, Wood End
[26], and
Highland (or Cape Cod) Light, and most of the buildings of the town. All three are on land within the
Cape Cod National Seashore. The harbor serves as the southern boundary of the nationally registered
Provincetown historic district, which consists of some 3000 acres (12 km²), 1127 buildings, three structures, and five objects.
On the East End of Provincetown, Lewis Wharf was purchased by
Mary Heaton Vorse, and its old fish shack converted into a theater which became the home of the
Provincetown Players.
Eugene O'Neill debuted his first play, Bound East for Cardiff, there in
1916.
[27]
Captain Jack's Wharf is on the West End of Provincetown. At another theater on that wharf,
Tennessee Williams debuted
A Streetcar Named Desire with
Marlon Brando as
Stanley Kowalski before the play appeared on
Broadway.
U.S. Coast Guard has administrative buildings and barracks at the base of a concrete
pier on the harbor.
[28] The current station opened in 1979 and is responsible for safety and law enforcement in over of
Cape Cod Bay and the
Atlantic Ocean. Noteworthy past disasters within this station's area include the wreck of the
submarine S-4 in
1927. This station includes the first federal building to receive
solar power. A frequent sight in the harbor is the station's , self-righting
motor life boat.
[29]
The West End Breakwater, built in
1911 by the
US Army Corps of Engineers, is open to the public for walking and exploring.
[30] Technically speaking, it is more of a
dike than a
breakwater. The harbor also has a "true"
breakwater built between 1970 and 1972 and located from the end of MacMillan Pier.
[31]
Marine Life
American lobster
Provincetown Harbor supports a wide variety of
marine life from
algae,
seagrasses and
plankton through
bryozoa,
hydroids,
echinoderms,
crustaceans,
mollusks,
fish,
birds,
marine mammals, and other animals.
sea urchin
The harbor is an amazingly diverse and productive
habitat. The following tables list in no particular order 94 examples of
marine life that are regularly observed within the harbor. A few landbirds are included that are common around MacMillan Pier, on the beaches, and on the breakwater.
Forbes' sea star
moon jellies
Herring Gull
Ocean sunfish
In 2002, Provincetown Harbor Beach was selected by the
US Environmental Protection Agency as one of three
Flagship beaches for the state of
Massachusetts that serve as models for beach managers in water quality monitoring and pollution assessments and because of its health.
The eastern section of the harbor is connected through a
culvert to Pilgrim Lake, historically known as 'East Harbor'. In the 17th and 18th centuries, East Harbor was the most protected mooring place in
Provincetown for boats using
Cape Cod Bay and the
Gulf of Maine. East Harbor had a wide inlet into Provincetown Harbor during that period. Later, this was
diked to allow traffic to be redirected from the east side of the lake and a railroad to be built.
[32] During the 19th century, the
dike became clogged with vegetation, beginning the demise of native
wildlife populations in East Harbor.
Tidal flow was successfully restored by the
National Park Service working together with other local, state, and federal agencies.
[33] In 2005, for the first time since
Abraham Lincoln was president, legal-size
clams were found in East Harbor.
[34]
Historic Annual Events
The
Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta each September preserves the harbor's history as a great
sailing port.
A
Blessing of the Fleet ceremony is held at the end of MacMillan Pier in late June, when all the boats operating in the harbor are blessed by a visiting bishop as part of the
Provincetown Portuguese Festival.
The
"Swim for Life" every September swims across the harbor to raise money for a range of charitable causes.
Further Reading and other info
Wikipedia List of Nationally Registered Historic Places in Provincetown
Oldale, R. N., 1992, ''Cape Cod and the Islands, the geologic story'': Parnassus Imprints, East Orleans, Massachusetts, 208 p. see
Geologic History of Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Carl Christian Rafn, 1837. ''Antiquitates Americanæ''. referred to by
The Norse Wall House
Strahler, A. N., 1966, ''A Geologist's View of Cape Cod'': Doubleday. Reprinted Parnassus Imprints (1988), Orleans, Massachusetts, 115 p.
Vorse, M.H.
''Time and the Town: A Provincetown Chronicle''. 1942. Dial Press, New York, 372 p.
a Norma Holt exhibit in "Faces & Places"
"Shutterbug" 1999 interview with Norma Holt
Things to Do compiled by Provincetown Public Pier Corporation
old postcard of Captain Jack's wharf in West End
References
1. Viking Princess Harbor Cruises
2. Viking Princess Harbor Cruises tour options
3. Viking Princess Harbor Cruises historical sightseeing tour
4. Viking Princess Harbor Cruises Critter Cruise
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. GREAT EPOCHS IN AMERICAN HISTORY: The Relation of Captain Gosnold's Voyage, , Gabriel, Archer, Funk & Wagnalls Co., ,
10. A Description of New England: An Online Electronic Text Edition, , John, Smith, Digital Commons, ,
11. Cape Cod, , Henry David, Thoreau, Thoreau Society, ,
12. A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceeding of the English Plantation Settled at Plymouth, , Edward, Winslow, John Bellamie, ,
13. Truro-Cape Cod or Land Marks and Sea Marks, , Shebnah, Rich, D. Lothrop & Co., ,
14. Magnalia Christi Americana, , Cotton, Mather, Silus Andrus & Son, ,
15. However, for the Nickerson family's oral history version of her death, see Early Encounters: Native Americans and Europeans in New England. From the Papers of Warren Sears Nickerson, , Dolores Bird, Carpenter, Michigan State University Press, ,
16. Walking Tour#1, The Center of Provincetown, Provincetown Historical Association, , , Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum,
17. History of Barnstable County, , Simeon L., Deyo, H. W. Blake & Co., ,
18. Rural Aid Goes to Urban Areas: USDA Development Program Helps Suburbs, Resort Cities, Gaul, Gilbert M. and Cohen, Sarah, , , Washington Post, 2007
19. Boston-Provincetown ferry Retrieved on April 5, 2007
20. Plymouth-Provincetown ferry Retrieved on April 5, 2007
21. Provincetown Public Pier Corporation
22.
23. Town backs Cabral Pier parking & mooring, Sowers, Pru, , , Provincetown Banner, 2005
24.
25. Town bids .3M for wharf, Sowers, Pru, , , Provincetown Banner, 2005
26. Wood End
27. Bound East for Cardiff, there in 1916
28. Station Provincetown
29.
30. West End Breakwater
31.
32. When Provincetown almost became an island, Adam Gamble, , , Barnstable Patriot: Summerscape, 1998
33. In Truro, a dying lake now overflows with life, Peter Schworm, , , Boston Globe, 2004
34.
External Links
★
★ Hybrid satellite image/street map from
WikiMapia
★ Luchima
[1] of Provincetown
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