At the extremity of Cape Cod is Provincetown, among the sand dunes, a
town with about forty-five hundred inhabitants, encircling the harbor
on its western verge, a long, narrow settlement between the high white
sand-hills and the beach. There are two main streets, one along the
beach and the other parallel to it back among the hills. Upon the
highest hill is the Town Hall, the mariner's landmark entering the
harbor, and from it are good views over ocean and bay, displaying the
curious end of the Cape sweeping grandly around and enclosing the
spacious harbor with room enough for anchoring an enormous fleet. To
the west and south is the great bended hook having Race Point on its
northwesterly verge and a lighthouse on the southern termination,
whence a tongue of beach juts over towards Truro. This is a haven for
many fishermen, and the people, who are among the purest descendants
of the original Puritans, devote their energies largely to catching
mackerel and cod, curing and stacking the fish all around the bay. The
first appearance of Provincetown in history was when the "Mayflower"
entered the harbor with the Pilgrims in November, 1620. Cape Cod was
the first land they saw after leaving the English Channel, then not
bare as now, but wooded down to the shore. They anchored in the bay,
and the men were forced to wade "a bow-shoot" to the shore to make a
landing, and it was this wading and subsequent exposure which gave
them the colds and sickness resulting in the deaths of so many during
the subsequent winter. It is recorded that upon Monday, November 23,
1620, the women went ashore to wash, and thus they inaugurated that
universal institution which has extended all over the country, the
great American Monday washing-day. It was while anchored in
Provincetown harbor the Pilgrims framed and signed the celebrated
Puritan Compact, so long ruling Plymouth, which is regarded as the
foundation of constitutional government. John Quincy Adams said of it:
"This is perhaps the only instance in human history of that positive
original social compact which speculative philosophers imagined as the
only legitimate source of government." It was signed by forty-one
Pilgrims, of whom twenty-one died during the ensuing four months. It
reads:
"In the name of God, amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal
subjects of our direct sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God,
of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith,
etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the
Christian faith and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant
the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these
presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and of one
another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body
politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of
the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and
frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and
offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and
expedient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise
all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof, we have
hereunder inscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th day of November
(old style), in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord King
James, of England, France and Ireland, the 18th, and of Scotland, the
54th, Anno Domini, 1620."
Provincetown was a long time afterwards started, and began with a few
fishermen's huts, which grew in the eighteenth century to a small
village with extensive fish-drying flakes. The people top-dressed the
soft sands with clay, shells and pebble, thus making the streets.
There are relics of wrecks all about the extremity of the Cape, and it
has had a sad history, though now, being better lighted and having
life-saving stations, these terrible disasters are rare. The town has
become an attractive summer resort, and has quite a development of
pleasant homes. The visitor mounts High Pole Hill to get the view, and
all around it is over the sea, for, gaze whither one may as the winds
blow freshly across the Cape, the scene is of dazzling white sand or
deeply blue water.