Provincetown (/ˈprɒvɪnsˌtaʊn/) is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States.

They spoke Massachusett, a Southern New England Algonquian language dialect that they shared in common with their closely related neighbors, the Wampanoag.

On May 15, 1602, having made landfall from the west and believing it to be an island, Bartholomew Gosnold initially named this area "Shoal Hope".

Later that day, after catching a "great store of codfish", he chose instead to name this outermost tip of land "Cape Cod".

[7] Though the Pilgrims chose to settle across the bay in Plymouth, Cape Cod enjoyed an early reputation for its valuable fishing grounds, and for its harbor: a naturally deep, protected basin that was considered the best along the coast.

[8] In 1654, the Governor of the Plymouth Colony purchased this land from the Chief of the Nausets, for a selling price of two brass kettles, six coats, 12 hoes, 12 axes, 12 knives and a box.

[9] That land, which spanned from East Harbor (now known as Pilgrim Lake)—near the present-day border between Provincetown and Truro—to Long Point, was kept for the benefit of Plymouth Colony, which began leasing fishing rights to roving fishermen.

[9] The first record of a municipal government with jurisdiction over the Province Lands was in 1714, with an Act that declared it the "Precinct of Cape Cod", annexed under control of Truro.

[9] In 1893 the Massachusetts General Court changed the Town's charter, giving the townspeople deeds to the properties they held, while still reserving unoccupied areas.

It was, by happenstance, the location of the wreck of British warship HMS Somerset at the Peaked Hill Bars off the Atlantic Coast of Provincetown in 1778.

[10] The population was bolstered by numerous Portuguese sailors, many of whom were from the Azores,[14] and settled in Provincetown after being hired to work on US ships.

Many of its members lived during other parts of the year in Greenwich Village in New York, and intellectual and artistic connections were woven between the places.

The town's rural character appealed to the hippies of the era; property was relatively cheap and rents were correspondingly low, especially during the winter.

Until the late 19th century, no road led to Provincetown – the only land route connecting the village to points back toward the mainland was along a thin stretch of beach along the shore to the north (known locally as the "backshore").

The railroad was completed, to great fanfare, in 1873;[22] and the wooden bridge and sand road was finally replaced by a formal roadway in 1877.

Here every man had a path from his house to his boat or vessel, and once launched, he was on the broad highway of nations without tax or toll.

"The town's internal road layout reflects the historic importance of the waterfront, the key to communication and commerce with the outside world.

One man, a doctor, who had not lived long in town, proposed that the street be made sixty-four feet wide, but they soon voted down such foolishness as that from foreigners.

[26] To the north lie the "Province Lands", the area of dunes and small ponds extending from Mount Ararat in the east to Race Point in the west, along the Massachusetts Bay shore.

[48] Data from traditional demographic sources like the U.S. Census, municipal voting rolls and property records may not accurately portray the demography of resort towns.

[citation needed] Census figures are unable to capture these dynamic population fluctuations that are associated with seasonal tourism.

Its stated mission is to encourage the growth and development of emerging visual artists and writers through residency programs, to propagate aesthetic values and experience, and to restore the year-round vitality of the historic art colony of Provincetown.

Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) is a nationally recognized, year-round cultural institution that celebrated its Centennial in 2014.

[60][61][62] Since 1975, Provincetown has been the host city to Fantasia Fair, the world's first and longest-running annual conference that focuses on gender diversity and transgender issues.

Previous honorees include Matt Dillon, Harmony Korine, Parker Posey, Roger Corman, Vera Farmiga, Darren Aronofsky, Quentin Tarantino, Jane Lynch, Gael García Bernal, Tilda Swinton, Kathleen Turner, Jim Jarmusch, Todd Haynes, Gus Van Sant, and John Waters.

The Provincetown Public Library is also located on Commercial Street, occupying the former Center Methodist Episcopal Church building since 2005.

Although the terminus is directed east officially, geographically speaking, the road, having curved around Cape Cod, is facing west-southwest at the point, and is marked only by its junction with Route 6A.

[79] It also plays host several times per year as a destination port-of-call to passengers of organized cruise ship tours, whether themed towards the gay traveller, or towards eco-tourism, arts and other aspects of Provincetown and the outer cape.

The Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority offers flex route buses between MacMillan Pier and Harwich and a shuttle to Truro.

This 378 acres (1.53 km2) airport is surrounded by the Cape Cod National Seashore, and is used mostly for General Aviation, but does receive regular scheduled service to Boston or White Plains, New York (with optional car service to Manhattan) via Cape Air, which also operates code-share flights for JetBlue.