Provincetown
At the tip of Cape Cod, where the Pilgrims first dropped anchor.
- Year-round population
- 3,664 (2020 census)
- Summer population
- Up to about 60,000
- Pilgrim Monument
- 252 feet, all granite
- Tides
- Two highs, two lows a day
Then
- 1620
The Pilgrims sight Cape Cod on November 9. Back in what is now Provincetown Harbor, they draw up and sign the Mayflower Compact.
- 1727
The town incorporates on June 14. Residents propose “Herringtown”; the General Court chooses Provincetown.
- 1800s
Portuguese sailors, many from the Azores, settle here as fishing and whaling grow.
- 1898
Charles Webster Hawthorne opens the Cape Cod School of Art, and an art colony grows around it.
- 1907–1910
Theodore Roosevelt lays the Pilgrim Monument's cornerstone, and William H. Taft dedicates it on August 5, 1910.
- 1978
The Provincetown Business Guild forms to welcome gay visitors.
Now
Provincetown is one of the best-known LGBTQ destinations in the country, with an artistic streak that dates to its art colony days.
The National Park Service owns about 73 percent of the town's land as part of Cape Cod National Seashore. Whale watching boats leave from MacMillan Pier several times a day.
The Pilgrim Monument, the tallest all-granite structure in the United States, rises over the town.
On the water
From NOAA's predictions for Provincetown, MA over the next 365 days. Heights are in feet above mean lower low water (MLLW).
- Pattern
- Two highs and two lows a day, close in size
- Typical daily range
- 9.9 ft
- Biggest swing
- 13.2 ft on Jan 23
- Smallest swing
- 6.6 ft on Oct 18
- Highest high
- 11.6 ft, Jul 6 at 1:15 AM
- Lowest low
- −1.7 ft, Jan 23 at 5:53 PM
2 tide stations around Provincetown
- Provincetown0.6 mi
- Wellfleet11.3 mi