The Town of Provincetown was incorporated in 1727, but its history begins
much earlier since its well protected harbor offered excellent protection
from storms. The European explorer Gosnold recorded a stop in Provincetown
as early as 1602 and the harbor was the site of the first landing of the
Mayflower. The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower compact in the harbor, to
codify the way in which they were going to administer the new colony they
intended to establish. Although rich fishing grounds resulted in the
seasonal leasing of fisheries with licenses granted for bass, mackerel and
cod fishing, the first permanent settlement didn't take place until 1700.
Provincetown grew very slowly during the 18th century and its population
fluctuated with the price of fish. Farming was of secondary importance and
aside from the fishing industry, there were only some salt works and one
mill. After the Revolution, the town boomed and its population rose 276.6%
between 1790 and 1830. Despite its relative lack of good farm land, by the
middle of the 19th century, Provincetown had developed as the prime
maritime, fishing and commercial center of the Cape. The Civil War, which
destroyed so much New England business, only provided more markets for
Provincetown's fish. Portuguese sailors, picked up by American ships in
the Azores and Cape Verde Islands to fill out their crews, came to
Provincetown to live and additional Portuguese immigrants had moved to town
by the 19th century to work on the whaling boats and coastal fishing
vessels. In 1875, there were 25 coastwise and 36 ocean vessels operating
in town, more than any community in the state including Boston.
Provincetown was a bustling place with all of the ancillary maritime
businesses operating, such as ship chandlers, shipwrights, sail makers,
caulkers, riggers and blacksmiths.
The picturesque setting and salt air also began attracting artists and
writers by the end of the 19th century. This contingent grew and poets,
novelists, journalists, socialists, radicals and dilettantes formed a
colony which in 1915 opened the Provincetown Players in a converted fish
house on the wharf. Among the writers whose works were performed there was
Eugene O'Neill. When the fishing industry faltered from competition with
cheaper Nova Scotia cod, and the Portland Gale of 1898 swept away half of
the town's wharves, the resort population of the town provided jobs to take
the place of those lost. In the 1920's the artistic and literary
productions of the town were of international repute and the abandoned
sites of maritime businesses became the new homes of the seasonal visitor
as sail lofts, warehouses and barns became studios, galleries and shops.
Today, the wealth of preserved historic buildings combines with the lure of
the sea to support a huge tourist and summer home industry.
(Narrative supplied by community)
