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PROVINCETOWN GUIDE
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| DIRECTORY |
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Provincetown :: Thursday, September 2nd 2010
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Journey into a Towering Past
At the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum
May 9th, 2006
No one who spends a day in Provincetown can fail to notice the Pilgrim Monument, a granite tower of 252-feet that juts proudly upwards into the sky.
| With exhibits that illustrate the full arc of Provincetown's history, the museum does circles around the centuries. |
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And a good thing too. It is easy to forget, especially since it's not mentioned in many history texts, that the Mayflower Pilgrims’ first landing place in the new land was not in Plymouth, but rather, in Provincetown. And it was here that they drew up the famous Mayflower Compact.
With all this in mind, the Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association was formed in 1892 to lobby the federal government to help build a monument commemorating the Pilgrims’ landing in Provincetown.
It was soon successful, and the monument was constructed over a three-year period to become what is the tallest granite structure in the United States today.
Visitors can now climb up the monument’s 116 steps and 60 ramps to its apex, and look out to take in a sight that likely bears some resemblance to the Pilgrims’ first glimpses of the new land.
Those sweeping views also have their historical counterpart on the grounds below inside the Provincetown Museum. The museum, which collects materials that illustrate the full arc Provincetown's history, is filled with artifacts from many periods and cultures.
Each year it also hosts a special exhibit. For 2009, the exhibit will feature advertising materials that used romantic images of past American leaders and moments to sell everything from cranberries to insurance.
Besides the annual special exhibit, the museum also features many other artifacts, which uncover everything from the history of the Pilgrims to the Wampanoag tribe, Provincetown's art and theater background, the town's whaling and fishing heritage, and much, much more.
The Provincetown Museum is open from April to October. The museum is located at the top of High Pole Hill Road. For more information call 508.487.1310 or visit www.pilgrim-monument.org.
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Arts & Theater
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