Provincetown Harbor
Encyclopedia
Provincetown Harbor is a large natural harbor located in the town of Provincetown
, Massachusetts
. The harbor
is mostly 30 to 90 feet (27 m) deep and stretches roughly one mile from northwest to southeast and two miles (3 km) from northeast to southwest, 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.
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.
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.
A stone wall discovered in Provincetown in 1805 is thought to have been built by Viking
Thorvald Eiriksson
about 1007 AD, when according to Norse saga
s, the keel of Ericson's ship was repaired in the harbor.
Bartholomew Gosnold
explored the harbor in 1602, and his mate Gabriel Archer wrote:
John Smith
explored the harbor in 1614 and wrote:
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 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,
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. 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 from close to when it actually occurred, she fell overboard from the Mayflower
in Provincetown Harbor on December 7, 1620 and drowned. 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.
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
.
Two main parallel wharves dominated the center of the harbor in the late 19th century: Railroad Wharf and Steamboat Wharf. President Grant
visited Provincetown for the opening of the railroad in 1874. 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
. The pier primarily serves tourists
and high-speed ferries to Boston and Plymouth that charge their passenger
s up to $44 per one-way trip. The Provincetown Public Pier Corporation (PPPC) entered into a 20-year lease agreement for MacMillan Pier operations in 2005. The pier is named after arctic
explorer Donald B. MacMillan
, a Provincetown native who retired to Provincetown and died there in 1970.
Immediately parallel to MacMillan Pier is Cabral Pier, also known as "Fisherman's Wharf." 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.
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 lighthouse
s: Long Point, Wood End, 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.
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. The current station opened in 1979 and is responsible for safety and law enforcement in over 1200 square miles (3,108 km²) 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 47-foot Motor Lifeboat
.
The West End Breakwater, built in 1911 by the US Army Corps of Engineers
, is open to the public for walking and exploring. 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 835 feet (255 m) from the end of MacMillan Pier.
Provincetown Harbor supports a wide variety of marine life
from algae
, seagrass
es and plankton
through bryozoa
, hydroids
, echinoderms, crustaceans, mollusks, fish
, birds, marine mammals, and other animals.
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.
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. 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. In 2005, for the first time since Abraham Lincoln
was president, legal-size clams
were found in East Harbor.
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.
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
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,431 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2007 population of 3,174...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. The harbor
Harbor
A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy weather, or else are stored for future use. Harbors can be natural or artificial...
is mostly 30 to 90 feet (27 m) deep and stretches roughly one mile from northwest to southeast and two miles (3 km) from northeast to southwest, i.e., one large, deep bowl with no dredged channel necessary for boats to enter and exit.
A tall green buoy
Buoy
A buoy is a floating device that can have many different purposes. It can be anchored or allowed to drift. The word, of Old French or Middle Dutch origin, is now most commonly in UK English, although some orthoepists have traditionally prescribed the pronunciation...
east of Long Point (i.e., the tip of Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
) marks the entrance to Provincetown Harbor from Cape Cod Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Cape Cod Bay is a large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Measuring below a line drawn from Brant Rock in Marshfield to Race Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts, it is enclosed by Cape Cod to the south and east, and Plymouth County, Massachusetts, to the west....
. Several of the landmarks described in this article are identified on the aerial view shown at WikiMapia.
Tours
Viking Princess Harbor Cruises offers among their tour options a historical sightseeing tour and a Critter Cruise to explore harbor marine life.Commercial use
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and Plymouth, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, several different sportfishing boats, boat rentals, and other commercial boats also use the harbor today. East Coast whalewatching
Whale watching
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and other cetaceans in their natural habitat. Whales are watched most commonly for recreation but the activity can also serve scientific or educational purposes. A 2009 study, prepared for IFAW, estimated that 13 million people went whale watching...
on Stellwagen Bank
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is an 842-square-mile federally protected marine sanctuary located at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, between Cape Cod and Cape Ann...
originated as a joint effort of the Dolphin Fleet and the Center for Coastal Studies leaving from MacMillan Pier in 1975.
History
Laurentide ice sheet
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered hundreds of thousands of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the northern United States, multiple times during Quaternary glacial epochs. It last covered most of northern North America between c. 95,000 and...
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
Truro, Massachusetts
Truro is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, comprising two villages: Truro and North Truro. Located two hours outside Boston, it is a summer vacation community just south of the northern tip of Cape Cod, in an area known as the "Outer Cape"...
through all of Provincetown, consists largely of marine deposits transported from farther up the shore during the last 6,000 years.
A stone wall discovered in Provincetown in 1805 is thought to have been built by Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
Thorvald Eiriksson
Thorvald Eiriksson
Thorvald Eiriksson was the son of Erik the Red and brother of Leif Erikson. According to the sagas, he was part of an expedition for the exploration of Vinland....
about 1007 AD, when according to Norse saga
Norse saga
The sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...
s, the keel of Ericson's ship was repaired in the harbor.
Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, United States...
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 codCodCod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
fish, for which we altered the name, and called it Cape CodCape CodCape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
. Here we saw sculls of herringHerringHerring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
, mackerelMackerelMackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...
, and other small fishFishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, in great abundance. This is a low sandy shoalShoalShoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
, but without danger..."
John Smith
John Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
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..."
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
in 1620, before they proceeded to Plymouth, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Thoreau later observed that Smith's description of the harbor may have been less colored by the hardships of transoceanic troubles than the Pilgrims'. Mourt's Relation
Mourt's Relation
The book Mourt's Relation was written primarily by Edward Winslow, although William Bradford appears to have written most of the first section...
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."
The Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
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
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower...
in the harbor on November 21, 1620. Dorothy Bradford, the first wife of William Bradford
William Bradford (1590-1657)
William Bradford was an English leader of the settlers of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, and served as governor for over 30 years after John Carver died. His journal was published as Of Plymouth Plantation...
, was one of the first adult Pilgrims to die in the New World. According to the only known written description of her death from close to when it actually occurred, she fell overboard from the Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
in Provincetown Harbor on December 7, 1620 and drowned. Peregrine White
Peregrine White
Peregrine White was the first English child born to the Pilgrims in the New World....
, the first child born to the Pilgrims in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, was born while they were in Provincetown Harbor.
Nothing obvious remains of an old fishing village at Long Point during the 19th century.
The Portland gale
Portland Gale
The Portland Gale was a storm that struck the coast of New England on November 26 and 27, 1898. The storm formed when two low pressure areas merged off the coast of Virginia and travelled up the coast; at its peak, it produced a storm surge of about ten feet in Cohasset harbor and hurricane-force...
of 1898 destroyed several wharves
Wharf
A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
boats within the harbor.
The harbor is the southern boundary of the Provincetown historic district
Provincetown Historic District
The Provincetown Historic District is a portion of downtown Provincetown, Massachusetts, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It was added in 1989 as Barnstable County place #89001148.The district is roughly bounded to the north by U.S...
, which is on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Landmarks
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
visited Provincetown for the opening of the railroad in 1874. Today, the wharves
Wharf
A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...
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
Loan
A loan is a type of debt. Like all debt instruments, a loan entails the redistribution of financial assets over time, between the lender and the borrower....
from the Rural Development program
Rural Development
USDA Office of Rural Development is an agency with the United States Department of Agriculture which runs programs intended to improve the economy and quality of life in rural America....
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
. The pier primarily serves tourists
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and high-speed ferries to Boston and Plymouth that charge their passenger
Passenger
A passenger is a term broadly used to describe any person who travels in a vehicle, but bears little or no responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination....
s up to $44 per one-way trip. The Provincetown Public Pier Corporation (PPPC) entered into a 20-year lease agreement for MacMillan Pier operations in 2005. The pier is named after arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
explorer Donald B. MacMillan
Donald B. MacMillan
Donald Baxter MacMillan was an American explorer, sailor, researcher and lecturer who made over 30 expeditions to the Arctic during his 46-year career...
, a Provincetown native who retired to Provincetown and died there in 1970.
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
-American women photographed by Norma Holt hanging since 2003 on one side and one end of the old fish-packing plant on Cabral Pier.
In both 1907 and 1910, when the Pilgrim Monument
Pilgrim Monument
For the monument in Plymouth, Massachusetts formerly known as the Pilgrim Monument see National Monument to the ForefathersThe Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts was built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate the first landfall of the Pilgrims in 1620 and the signing in Provincetown...
began construction and when it was dedicated, the entire Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
fleet
Naval fleet
A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships, and the largest formation in any navy. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land....
of the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
was inside the harbor for large ceremonies led by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
and William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, respectively.
The harbor affords views of three working lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
s: Long Point, Wood End, 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
Cape Cod National Seashore
The Cape Cod National Seashore , created on August 7, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, encompasses on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion...
. The harbor serves as the southern boundary of the nationally registered Provincetown historic district
Provincetown Historic District
The Provincetown Historic District is a portion of downtown Provincetown, Massachusetts, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It was added in 1989 as Barnstable County place #89001148.The district is roughly bounded to the north by U.S...
, 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
Mary Heaton Vorse
Mary Heaton Vorse or Mary Heaton Vorse O'Brien was an American journalist, labor activist, and novelist. Vorse was outspoken and active in peace and social justice causes, such as women's suffrage, civil rights, pacifism , socialism, child labor, infant mortality, labor disputes, and affordable...
, and its old fish shack converted into a theater which became the home of the Provincetown Players
Provincetown Players
The Provincetown Players was an amateur group of writers and artists who, at the early part of the 20th Century, wanted to see a change in American theatre and created a company committed to producing new plays by exclusively American playwrights...
. Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
debuted his first play, Bound East for Cardiff, there in 1916.
Captain Jack's Wharf is on the West End of Provincetown. At another theater on that wharf, Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
debuted A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
with Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
as Stanley Kowalski
Stanley Kowalski
Stanley Kowalski is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire.-In the play:Stanley lives in the working class Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans with his wife, Stella , and is employed as a factory parts salesman. He was an Army engineer in WWII, having...
before the play appeared on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.
U.S. Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
has administrative buildings and barracks at the base of a concrete pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
on the harbor. The current station opened in 1979 and is responsible for safety and law enforcement in over 1200 square miles (3,108 km²) of Cape Cod Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Cape Cod Bay is a large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Measuring below a line drawn from Brant Rock in Marshfield to Race Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts, it is enclosed by Cape Cod to the south and east, and Plymouth County, Massachusetts, to the west....
and the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. Noteworthy past disasters within this station's area include the wreck of the submarine S-4
USS S-4 (SS-109)
USS S-4 was an S-class submarine of the United States Navy. In 1927, she was sunk by being accidentally rammed by a Coast Guard destroyer with the loss of all hands but was raised and restored to service until stricken in 1936.-Building:...
in 1927. This station includes the first federal building to receive solar power
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
. A frequent sight in the harbor is the station's 47-foot Motor Lifeboat
47-foot Motor Lifeboat
The 47-foot MLB is the standard lifeboat of the United States Coast Guard . The 47′ MLB is the successor to the 44′ MLB.The 47' MLB is designed to weather hurricane force winds and heavy seas, capable of surviving winds up to , breaking surf up to 6 m and impacts up to three G's...
.
The West End Breakwater, built in 1911 by the US Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
, is open to the public for walking and exploring. Technically speaking, it is more of a dike than a breakwater
Breakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
. The harbor also has a "true" breakwater
Breakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
built between 1970 and 1972 and located 835 feet (255 m) from the end of MacMillan Pier.
Marine life
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
from algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
, seagrass
Seagrass
Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , all in the order Alismatales , which grow in marine, fully saline environments.-Ecology:...
es and plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
through bryozoa
Bryozoa
The Bryozoa, also known as Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals, are a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals. Typically about long, they are filter feeders that sieve food particles out of the water using a retractable lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles lined with cilia...
, hydroids
Obelia
Obelia is a genus in the class Hydrozoa, which consists of mainly marine and some freshwater animal species and have both the polyp and medusa stages in their life cycle...
, echinoderms, crustaceans, mollusks, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, birds, marine mammals, and other animals.
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
. The following tables list in no particular order 94 examples of marine life
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
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.
| Seaweeds |
|---|
| Ulva (sea lettuce) Ulva lactuca Ulva lactuca Linnaeus, a green alga in the division Chlorophyta, is the type species of the genus Ulva, also known by the common name sea lettuce.-Description:... |
| Irish moss (Chondrus crispus) |
| Pylaiella Pylaiella Pylaiella is a genus of seaweed that can be a nuisance due to its ability to coat people, ropes, animals, and more when it blooms close to the shore under particular conditions.-External links:* * *... (mung) |
| bladder wrack Bladder wrack Fucus vesiculosus, known by the common name bladder wrack or bladderwrack, is a seaweed found on the coasts of the North Sea, the western Baltic Sea, and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, also known by the common names black tang, rockweed, bladder fucus, sea oak, black tany, cut weed, dyers fucus,... |
| knotted wrack Knotted wrack Ascophyllum nodosum is a large, common brown alga in the family Fucaceae, being the only species in the genus Ascophyllum. It is seaweed of the northern Atlantic Ocean, also known as rockweed, Norwegian kelp, knotted kelp, knotted wrack or egg wrack... |
| codium Codium Codium is a genus of seaweed in the Chlorophyta of the Order Bryopsidales. There are about 50 species worldwide. -Description:The genus has thalli of two forms, either erect or prostrate. The erect plants are dichotomously branched to 40 cm long with branches forming a compact spongy... fragile (dead man's fingers) |
| Crustaceans, chelicerates, molluscs | Other invertebrates |
|---|---|
| American lobster American lobster The American lobster, Homarus americanus, is a species of lobster found on the Atlantic coast of North America, chiefly from Labrador to New Jersey. Within North America, it is also known as the northern lobster or Maine lobster. It can reach a body length of , and a mass of over , making it the... |
orange-footed sea cucumber |
| rock crab | Forbes' sea star |
| jonah crab Jonah crab The Jonah crab, Cancer borealis, is a species of crab found on the Atlantic coast of North America. It is closely related to the Dungeness crab of the Pacific coast, and is known for its strong claws, although it is not a very aggressive species. It has been fished on a small scale since the 1970s,... |
purple sea urchin Arbacia punctulata Arbacia punctulata is a species of Arbacia genus of purple-spined sea urchins. Its natural habitat is in the Western Atlantic Ocean. Arbacia punctulata can be found in shallow water from Massachusetts to Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula, from Texas to Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, the coast from... |
| portly spider crab Portly spider crab Libinia emarginata, the portly spider crab, common spider crab or nine-spined spider crab, is a species of stenohaline crab that lives on the Atlantic coast of North America.-Distribution:... |
ctenophore (comb jelly) Ctenophore The Ctenophora are a phylum of animals that live in marine waters worldwide. Their most distinctive feature is the "combs", groups of cilia that they use for swimming, and they are the largest animals that swim by means of cilia – adults of various species range from a few millimeters to in size... |
| calico crab (lady crab) Lady crab Ovalipes ocellatus is a species of crab from eastern North America, known as the lady crab, calico crab or ocellated crab. It has a shell long and only slightly wider, which is covered in clusters of purple spots. It occurs from Canada to Georgia, and lives mainly on molluscs, such as the Atlantic... |
moon jelly Aurelia aurita Aurelia aurita is one of a group of more than ten morphologically nearly identical jellyfish species in the genus Aurelia... |
| green crab Carcinus maenas Carcinus maenas is a common littoral crab, and an important invasive species, listed among the 100 "world's worst alien invasive species". It is native to the north-east Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea, but has colonised similar habitats in Australia, South Africa, South America and both Atlantic and... |
various sea sponges Sea sponge Sponges are animals of the phylum Porifera . Their bodies consist of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. While all animals have unspecialized cells that can transform into specialized cells, sponges are unique in having some specialized cells, but can also have... |
| Japanese shore crab Japanese shore crab The Japanese shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, has a square-like carapace with three marginal teeth toward the front of each side of the carapace and alternating light and dark bands on the legs. It reaches in width. Its native range is from southern Russia to Hong Kong... |
clam worm |
| long-clawed hermit crab Pagurus longicarpus Pagurus longicarpus, the long-clawed hermit crab, is a small common subtidal decapod ranging out to deep found living in shells from periwinkles, oyster drills, and eastern mud snails. It is found from Nova Scotia to Florida and Texas.... |
northern red anemone Northern red anemone The northern red anemone or dahlia anemone, Urticina felina, is a marine invertebrate found in the north Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Synonyms include Tealia crassicornis , Tealia felina , and Urticina crassicornis . The colour is variable... |
| flat-clawed hermit crab Flat-clawed hermit crab Pagurus pollicaris is a hermit crab commonly found along the Atlantic coast of North America from New Brunswick to the Gulf of Mexico. It is known by a number of common names, including gray hermit crab, flat-clawed hermit crab, flatclaw hermit crab, shield hermit crab, thumb-clawed hermit crab,... |
stalked sea squirt Styela clava The Stalked Sea Squirt, Styela clava, is a solitary, hermaphroditic, ascidian tunicate that is found off Australia and New Zealand, both coasts of North America, and Europe.... |
| copepod Copepod Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,... |
sea grape Molgula Sea Grapes or Molgula sp. are very common, globular, individual marine tunicates roughly the size of grapes. They are translucent with two protruding siphons. They are found subtidally, attached to slow-moving submerged objects or organisms.... |
| gammarid amphipod (sideswimmer) Gammaridea Gammaridea is a suborder of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the order Amphipoda. It contains about 7,275 of the 7,900 described species of amphipods, in approximately 1,000 genera, divided among around 125 families. Gammaridea includes almost all freshwater amphipods , as well as many marine... |
Didemnum sp. Didemnum Didemnum is a genus of tunicates in the family Didemnidae. Some species of Didemnum can be characterized as invasive species. This is particularly an issue off the east coast of the United States, where in early 2006, Didemnum were estimated to inhabit more than 175 square kilometers of this... |
| isopod | chain tunicates Botrylloides The "Chain Sea Squirts or Chain Tunicates" of the genus Botrylloides:Morphologically similar to Botryllus schlosseri and similarly widespread, Botrylloides is distinguished by having linearly-arranged, parallel "chains" of zooids as opposed to zooids like white or yellow stripes emanating from a... |
| barnacle Barnacle A barnacle is a type of arthropod belonging to infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings. They are sessile suspension feeders, and have... |
golden star tunicates Botryllus schlosseri Botryllus schlosseri, commonly known as the star ascidian or golden star tunicate, is an invasive, colonial ascidian tunicate that grows on slow-moving, submerged objects, plants, and animals in nearshore saltwater environments.... |
| skeleton shrimp Skeleton shrimp Skeleton shrimp are marine crustaceans of the infraorder Caprellida. The name denotes the threadlike slender body which allows them to virtually disappear among the fine filaments of seaweed, hydroids and bryozoans.-Ecology:... |
lacy crusted bryozoa Membranipora membranacea Membranipora membranacea is a very widely distributed species of marine bryozoan known from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, usually in temperate zone environments. This bryozoan is a colonial organism characterized by a thin, mat-like encrustation, white to gray in color... |
| horseshoe crab Horseshoe crab The Atlantic horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, is a marine chelicerate arthropod. Despite its name, it is more closely related to spiders, ticks, and scorpions than to crabs. Horseshoe crabs are most commonly found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the northern Atlantic coast of North America... - chelicerate |
Hydroides tubeworm |
| Longfin Inshore Squid Longfin Inshore Squid The Longfin Inshore Squid is a species of squid of the family Loliginidae. The Longfin Inshore Squid is found in the North Atlantic, schooling in continental shelf and slope waters from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Venezuela... |
brittle-star |
| common slipper shell Common slipper shell The common slipper shell, Crepidula fornicata, has many other common names including common Atlantic slippersnail, boat shell, quarterdeck shell, fornicating slipper snail, and it is known in Britain as the "common slipper limpet"... |
salp Salp A salp or salpa is a barrel-shaped, planktonic tunicate. It moves by contracting, thus pumping water through its gelatinous body... |
| quahog (hard clam) Hard clam The hard clam , also known as a quahog , round clam, or hard-shell clam, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk which is native to the eastern shores of North America, from Prince Edward Island to the Yucatán Peninsula... |
spiral tufted bryozoa Bugula Spiral tufted bryozoa or Bugula turrita are a very common colonial marine animal found from Maine to North Carolina.Bugula neritina is of current interest as a source of cytotoxic chemicals, bryostatins, under clinical investigation as anti-cancer agents.Dried Bugula are commonly used as... |
| soft-shell clam (steamer) Soft-shell clam Soft-shell clams, scientific name Mya arenaria, popularly called "steamers", "softshells", "longnecks", "piss clams", "Ipswich clams", or "Essex clams" are a species of edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Myidae.... |
snail fur |
| Atlantic bay scallop Argopecten irradians Argopecten irradians, formerly classified as Aequipecten irradians, common names the "Atlantic bay scallop" or "bay scallop", is an edible species of saltwater clam, a scallop, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Pectinidae, the scallops.... |
Tubularian hydroids Tubularia Tubularia is a genus of hydroids that appear to be furry pink tufts or balls at the end of long strings, thus causing them to be sometimes be called "pink-mouthed" or "pink-hearted" hydroids. T. larynx is described as:The stems are tubular, with a yellowish coloured tegument and are branched at the... |
| Eastern oyster (American oyster) Eastern oyster The eastern oyster — also called Atlantic oyster or Virginia oyster — is a species of true oyster native to the eastern seaboard and Gulf of Mexico coast of North America. It is also farmed in Puget Sound, Washington, where it is known as the Totten Inlet Virginica. Eastern oysters are and have... |
sinistral spiral tubeworm (S. borealis) Spirorbis spirorbis Spirorbis spirorbis is a small coiled polychaete that lives attached to seaweeds and eel grass in shallow saltwater.They have a smooth, white, sinistral coiled shell encasing an orange body about 3 mm in length... |
| common periwinkle Common Periwinkle The common periwinkle or winkle, scientific name Littorina littorea, is a species of small edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk which has gills and an operculum, and is classified within the family Littorinidae, the periwinkles.... |
featherduster worm Sabellidae Sabellidae are sedentary marine polychaete tube worms where the head is mostly concealed by feathery branchiae. They build tubes out of parchment, sand, and bits of shell... |
| northern moon snail Northern moon snail The northern moon snail, scientific name Euspira heros, is a species of large sea snail, a predatory marine gastropod mollusk in the family Naticidae, the moon snails or necklace snails .... |
ice cream cone worm Pectinariidae Pectinariidae, or the trumpet worms or ice cream cone worms, are a family of marine polychaete worms that build sand tubes roughly resembling ice cream cones up to two inches long.-Genera:... |
| oyster drill Urosalpinx cinerea Urosalpinx cinerea, common name the eastern or Atlantic oyster drill, is a species of small predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murexes or rock snails.... |
|
| Eastern mudsnail Nassarius obsoletus The eastern mudsnail, Ilyanassa obsoleta, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Nassariidae, the nassa mud snails.-Shell description:... |
|
| Blue mussel Blue mussel The blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, is a medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae. In spite of its specific name edulis, it is not the sole edible Mytilus species.-Distribution:... |
| Fish | Birds | Marine mammals |
|---|---|---|
| flounder Flounder The flounder is an ocean-dwelling flatfish species that is found in coastal lagoons and estuaries of the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.-Taxonomy:There are a number of geographical and taxonomical species to which flounder belong.*Western Atlantic... (fluke) |
herring gull American Herring Gull The American Herring Gull or Smithsonian Gull is a large gull which breeds in North America. It is often treated as a subspecies of the European Herring Gull but is now regarded as a separate species by some authorities.Adults are white with gray back and wings, black wingtips with white spots,... |
| Atlantic white-sided dolphin Atlantic White-sided Dolphin The Atlantic White-sided Dolphin is a distinctively coloured dolphin found in the cool to temperate waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.-Taxonomy:... |
| striped bass Striped bass The striped bass is the state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the state saltwater fish of New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire... |
great black-backed gull Great Black-backed Gull The Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world, which breeds on the European and North American coasts and islands of the North Atlantic... |
| harbor porpoise |
| bluefish Bluefish The bluefish , called tailor in Australia, is a species of popular marine gamefish found in all climates. It is the sole species of the Pomatomidae family.... |
double-crested cormorant Double-crested Cormorant The Double-crested Cormorant is a member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It occurs along inland waterways as well as in coastal areas, and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska down to Florida and Mexico... |
| harbor seal Harbor Seal The harbor seal , also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere... |
| ocean sunfish Ocean sunfish The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of . The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally... |
great cormorant Great Cormorant The Great Cormorant , known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds... |
| grey seal Grey Seal The grey seal is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large seal of the family Phocidae or "true seals". It is the only species classified in the genus Halichoerus... |
| spiny dogfish Spiny dogfish The spiny dogfish, spurdog, mud shark, or piked dogfish, Squalus acanthias, is one of the best known of the dogfish which are members of the family Squalidae in the order Squaliformes. While these common names may apply to several species, Squalus acanthias is distinguished by having two spines ... |
common eider Common Eider The Common Eider, Somateria mollissima, is a large sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on... |
| baleen whales |
| tautog Tautog The tautog or blackfish also known as the "poor-man's lobster" , Tautoga onitis, is a fish of the wrasse family found in salt water from Nova Scotia to Georgia... |
rock pigeon Rock Pigeon The Rock Dove or Rock Pigeon, is a member of the bird family Columbidae . In common usage, this bird is often simply referred to as the "pigeon".... |
|
| cunner (bergall) Bergall A bergall or cunner or conner, Tautogolabrus adspersus, is a saltwater fish found in the western Atlantic. It is edible and its musky taste is considered a delicacy by some. Specimens may grow to 12 inches though most range from 4-10. Often bergalls are found mixed in with black fish , living... |
house sparrow House Sparrow The House Sparrow is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the House Sparrow occurs naturally in most of Europe, the Mediterranean region, and much of Asia... |
|
| pipefish Pipefish Pipefishes or pipe-fishes are a subfamily of small fishes, which, together with the seahorses, form the family Syngnathidae.-Anatomy:... |
black-crowned night-heron | |
| lumpfish (lumpsucker) Lumpsucker Lumpsuckers or lumpfish are mostly small scorpaeniform marine fish of the family Cyclopteridae. They are found in the cold waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, and North Pacific oceans... |
great blue heron Great Blue Heron The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England... |
|
| American eel American eel The American eel, Anguilla rostrata, is a catadromous fish found on the eastern coast of North America. It has a snake-like body with a small sharp pointed head. It is brown on top and a tan-yellow color on the bottom. It has sharp pointed teeth but no pelvic fins... |
green heron Green Heron The Green Heron is a small heron of North and Central America. It was long considered conspecific with its sister species the Striated Heron , and together they were called "Green-backed Heron"... |
|
| cusk eel Ophidiidae The cusk-eels family are a group of marine bony fishes in the order Ophidiiformes. The scientific name is from Greek ophis meaning "snake", and refers to their eel-like appearance... |
ruddy turnstone Ruddy Turnstone The Ruddy Turnstone is a small wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus Arenaria. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plover family Charadriidae... |
|
| Atlantic herring Atlantic herring Atlantic herring is a fish in the family Clupeidae. It is one of the most abundant fish species on earth. Herring can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large schools. They can grow up to in length and weigh more than... |
northern gannet Northern Gannet The Northern Gannet is a seabird and is the largest member of the gannet family, Sulidae.- Description :Young birds are dark brown in their first year, and gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years.Adults are long, weigh and have a wingspan... |
|
| three-spined stickleback Three-spined stickleback The three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is a fish native to much of northern Europe, northern Asia and North America. It has been introduced into parts of southern and central Europe.-Distribution and morphological variation:... |
Wilson's storm-petrel Wilson's Storm-petrel Wilson's Storm Petrel , also known as Wilson's Petrel, is a small seabird of the storm-petrel family. It is one of the most abundant bird species in the world and has a circumpolar distribution mainly in the seas of the southern hemisphere but extending northwards during the summer of the northern... |
|
| black sea bass Black sea bass The black sea bass is an exclusively marine fish. It is a type of Grouper found more commonly in northern than in southern ranges.It inhabits the coasts from Maine to NE Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.... |
laughing gull Laughing Gull The Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla, is a medium-sized gull of North and South America. It breeds on the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. Northernmost populations migrate further south in winter, and this species occurs as a rare vagrant to western... |
|
| little skate Skate Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. There are more than 200 described species in 27 genera. There are two subfamilies, Rajinae and Arhynchobatinae .... |
ring-billed gull Ring-billed Gull The Ring-billed Gull is a medium-sized gull.Adults are length and with a wingspan. The head, neck and underparts are white; the relatively short bill is yellow with a dark ring; the back and wings are silver gray; and the legs are yellow. The eyes are yellow with red rims... |
|
| basking shark Basking shark The basking shark is the second largest living fish, after the whale shark. It is a cosmopolitan migratory species, found in all the world's temperate oceans. It is a slow moving and generally harmless filter feeder and has anatomical adaptations to filter feeding, such as a greatly enlarged... |
common tern Common Tern The Common Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, breeding in temperate and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and east and central North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. It is sometimes... |
|
| Atlantic mackerel Atlantic mackerel The Atlantic mackerel , is a pelagic schooling species of mackerel found on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean. The species is also called Boston mackerel, or just mackerel.... |
least tern | |
| sculpin Sculpin A Sculpin is a fish that belongs to the order Scorpaeniformes, suborder Cottoidei and superfamily Cottoidea, that contains 11 families, 149 genera, and 756 species... |
American crow Crow Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several... |
|
| sand lance Sand lance A sand lance or sandlance is a fish belonging to the family Ammodytidae. Several species of sand lance are commonly known as "sand eels" or "sandeels", though they are not related to true eels. Another variant name is launce, and all names of the fish are references to its slender body and... |
sanderling Sanderling The Sanderling is a small wader. It is a circumpolar Arctic breeder, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to South America, South Europe, Africa, and Australia... |
|
| scup (porgy) Scup The scup, Stenotomus chrysops, is a fish which occurs primarily in the Atlantic from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Along with many other fish of the family Sparidae, it is also commonly known as porgy.... |
great shearwater Great Shearwater The Great Shearwater is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. Its relationships are unclear. It belongs in the group of large species that could be separated as genus Ardenna ; within these, it might be allied with the other black-billed, blunt-tailed species Short-tailed... |
|
| lingcod Lingcod The lingcod, Ophiodon elongatus, is a fish of the greenling family Hexagrammidae. It is the only extant member of the genus Ophiodon... |
In 2002, Provincetown Harbor Beach was selected by the US Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
as one of three Flagship beaches for the state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
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
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
to Pilgrim Lake, historically known as East Harbor. In the 17th and 18th centuries, East Harbor was the most protected mooring place in Provincetown
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,431 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2007 population of 3,174...
for boats using Cape Cod Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Cape Cod Bay is a large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Measuring below a line drawn from Brant Rock in Marshfield to Race Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts, it is enclosed by Cape Cod to the south and east, and Plymouth County, Massachusetts, to the west....
and the Gulf of Maine
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America.It is delineated by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and Cape Sable at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast. It includes the entire coastlines of the U.S...
. 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. During the 19th century, the dike became clogged with vegetation, beginning the demise of native wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
populations in East Harbor. Tidal flow
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
was successfully restored by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
working together with other local, state, and federal agencies. In 2005, for the first time since Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
was president, legal-size clams
CLaMS
CLaMS is a modular chemistry transport model system developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. CLaMS was first described by McKenna et al. and was expanded into three dimensions by Konopka et al....
were found in East Harbor.
Historic annual events
The Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta each September preserves the harbor's history as a great sailingSailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
.
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 information
Wikipedia List of Nationally Registered Historic Places in ProvincetownOldale, 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
Carl Christian Rafn
Carl Christian Rafn was a Danish historian, translator and antiquarian. His scholarship to a large extent focused on translation of Old Norse literature and related Northern European ancient history...
, 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