Truro and Provincetown
Truro rowboats Highland Light
Old Harbor Life Saving Museum, Provincetown
Blessing of the fleet, Provincetown
The narrowing of the Outer Cape and the power of nature readily become evident in Truro and Provincetown. Here the way the wind and the sea move sand around seems to be more noticeable than elsewhere on the peninsula.
Even in the summer, Truro is relatively desolate for a Cape Cod town, especially when compared with its bustling neighbor to the north, Provincetown, with its writers, artists, actors, and tourists.
Truro
Many towns claim many associations with the Pilgrims, and Truro can certainly claim its own. Myles Standish and a small Mayflower group discovered a basket of corn that had been buried by Indians on what is now known as Corn Hill, and another group found a freshwater spring near Pilgrim Lake (see [pages 34-35]).
The town, originally called Pamet and then Dangerfield, took the name of Truro in 1709 because of its similarities to an area of seaside moors and valleys by that name in England.
Whaling ships once worked out of Pamet Harbor on Cape Cod Bay, and until the 1860s the town was a major port with its related shipbuilding and fishing facilities and its saltworks. Most of the men made their living at sea, and in 1841 the town lost 57 fishermen in one storm. Today the small center of town has a few restaurants and other facilities for travelers.
Highland Light—also known as Cape Cod Light—is the second lighthouse constructed on the high bluff overlooking the Atlantic at Truro. The first was built in 1797 and the present one in 1857. Today the U.S. Coast Guard also maintains a radio beacon here to assist ships in their navigation. Nearby is the Truro Historical Society’s Highland House Museum.
The National Seashore has two short trails in the Pilgrim Heights area of North Truro. Pilgrim Spring Trail takes you through the area where a Mayflower exploratory group supposedly found a freshwater spring. Small’s Swamp Trail loops through a farmstead that was abandoned in 1922; the Small family built their house in a glacial kettle-hole.
Other points of interest: Pamet Cranberry Bog house; a Paul Revere bell in the 1827 Bell Church on Meetinghouse Road; Head of the Meadow Beach.
Provincetown
The town has been a prominent port and fishing community since colonial days when wharves lined the shores and hundreds of sailing ships filled the harbor. Today Provincetown is still a major port, but cod, mackerel, and hake have long since replaced whales as the major catch. And today, the town is full of art galleries, theaters, sidewalk cafes, restaurants, and shops that come alive in the summer when the population jumps from about 3,000 to 30,000.
Symbolic of Provincetown’s long history connected with the sea is the town’s Blessing of the Fleet festival on the last weekend in June. In the harbor, colorfully decorated fishing boats pass before a Roman Catholic bishop to receive his blessing for a successful season, and paraders wander through the narrow streets to honor Saint Peter, the patron saint of fishermen.
Whereas the center of town is located on the Cape Cod Bay side of the Cape, another center of interest, Race Point, is on the Atlantic side. The National Seashore’s Province Lands Visitor Center on Race Point Road has exhibits and films about the area’s natural and human history and is the starting point for a bicycle trail (see [page 96]). The center offers a variety of guided walks and talks and, from the observation deck, views over the dunes of the ocean—and possibly of whales.
In the summer, the Old Harbor Life Saving Museum at Race Point Beach presents interpretive talks and displays about the Cape’s early lifesaving activities. The station, on the National Register of Historic Places, was moved to Race Point from Chatham in 1978.
For swimming and sunbathing, the National Park Service manages beaches at Race Point and Herring Cove.
Back in town, the Pilgrim Monument rises 255 feet, a prominent reminder that the Pilgrims landed here before heading to Plymouth. Climb to the top of this granite tower and you are rewarded with wonderful views of the Atlantic and of Cape Cod Bay with the Manomet bluffs near Plymouth on the horizon. The ground-level museum houses memorabilia of the town.
The Provincetown Heritage Museum at 356 Commercial Street has a number of maritime paintings, a half-size model of the schooner Rose Dorothea, the fishing boat Charlotte, and other memorabilia.
Other points of interest: the Seth Nickerson House, circa 1746, at 72 Commercial Street; Provincetown Art Association and Museum; Center for Coastal Studies; whale-watching excursions starting at the MacMillan Wharf.