Provincetown Town Profile

Find Cape's Cultural Center at its Very Tip

Provincetown is located at the northernmost tip of Cape Cod, offering views of both Cape Cod Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Commercial Street, which runs about three miles along the waterfront of this historic fishing village, is a fun location for shopping, dining, catching a whale-watch boat or watching the eclectic mix of people who live in and visit Provincetown.

The town has long been a magnet to artists. By the end of the 19th century, poets, novelists, journalists, socialists and radicals had formed an artistic environment that spawned the first American school of art and the birth of modern American theater, according to the town’s Web site. Provincetown’s artistic and literary honor roll includes Eugene O’Neill, Stanley Kunitz, Norman Mailer, Mary Oliver and Robert Motherwell, to name a few. The artistic and cultural environment of the town makes it the art and literary center of the Cape, with galleries, cinemas, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, the Fine Arts Work Center and the Provincetown Theatre. The Provincetown International Film Festival is held here every June.

The Pilgrim Monument commemorates the first landing of the Pilgrims in America in 1620, its 252 feet towering over the town. Climb up the winding staircase and feast your eyes on a panoramic view of both Provincetown and – on a clear day – nearly the entire Cape Cod shoreline. The Cape Cod National Seashore beaches sit in front of large sand dunes that face the Atlantic Ocean. The water is cold, but the surf is perfect for body- and board surfing.

The housing stock in Provincetown is a mix of condominiums, single-family and multifamily homes dating from the 1700s, many of which are tightly packed along Commercial Street.