Day tripping: Provincetown after Labor Day

By Beth David, Editor

It’s generally considered the “shoulder season,” the time after summer, on either end of the busy tourist season, but in Provincetown, Mass., the end of September seemed almost like high summer. Commercial Street was filled of walkers, cyclists, and drivers. 

The day we chose, Sunday, 9/25/22, was a bit on the colder side, so the beaches were not full, but everything else seemed pretty busy.

We had a mission on this day trip. Before getting to Ptown, we planned on placing the ashes of my friend Tori’s boyfriend Bruce at Marconi Beach.

We anchored the day around a walking tour at 3:30 p.m. in Ptown.

First, though, we headed out over the Bourne Bridge, which was clear heading ONTO the Cape on a Sunday morning. 

When we hit Orleans, we decided we needed lunch, so we got off teh  highway and onto the rotary. Here, we made a neat little discovery.

As we drove around looking for a place to eat inside, we stumbled upon Cape Tradewinds.

It’s right at the Orleans Rotary and is exactly the most delightful little tourist trap imaginable. They have all kinds of doodads and summer things, and fudge…really yummy fudge.

Apparently they make their own salt water taffy, too, but they were out for the season. They are only open until Columbus Day weekend, so hurry up if you want to go.

This is the place if you are planning a beach getaway this winter and want a new bathing suit, towels, any beach item that you can no longer find around here. They still have it.

They also had some really cool models of boats and ships that I have not seen anywhere else (okay, my travel and shopping life has been rather stifled lately). 

Nico Nitows dished out some fudge for me. He lives in Serbia the rest of the year working in con­struc­tion, and said summers are his working vacation.

We took the opportunity to ask the  humans there for a lunch recom­mendation, and they came through with a great one: Land Ho restaurant in Orleans. 

I got the Reuben with French Fries, and Tori got the BLT. Both were great, and the prices were okay: $6.99/ chowder, $8.99/BLT, $11.99/Reuben, $4.99/fries, $11/red wine, $3/soda.

Jess McCarty at Tradewinds said the chowder was the best on the Cape, and Tori said it was very good.

The Reuben is a good test, but a risky choice to test a restaurant. The cut has to be a good one and it was. Every bite was fabulous. 

Both meals came with chips and big bar pickle.

The place is decorated with a bunch of signs of businesses that may or may not still exist. Interesting decor. It also has a full bar. It did seem to be a local favorite.

We then headed to Marconi Beach in Wellfleet, on the Cape Cod National Seashore, where we had our adventure.

Bruce’s ashes have been sprinkled in a few places: In the Pacific Ocean in California, over a mountain some­where in the middle of the country, and now in the Atlantic. 

Tori made a little sand castle, really just a sand turret, and made a small hole to pour a small amount of ash in. The waves were a little unpredictable, but we thought we were safe.

Of course, as I was taking her picture, a rogue wave jumped up and I fell trying to get away. We both quickly tried to get a picture of the wave taking the ashes, but then Tori went down, too.

As we stood there lamenting the fact that we were both wet with salt water and would have to live with it the rest of the day, Tori noticed a seal checking us out. No, really, I kid you not. Seal lore includes stories about seals helping to find lost fishing boats. The Native Americans saw seals as a sign of good luck and abundance. 

We just thought it was a sign from the Beyond.

A woman celebrating her birthday with her family at the beach said the seal was there for her. She

also said there was more than one, so we decided one was for us, and one was for her.

There was no attendant at the entrance to Marconi Beach, so we did not have to pay the $25 daily fee (annual pass, $60, gets you into all six CC National Seashore beaches). But the restrooms were open, and the outside water was turned on so I was able to rinse off my shoes and socks.

Marconi Beach is a spectacular place, with high dunes and a wide and long beach. There is also an observa­tion platform and a nature trail. But you have to climb down a lot of stairs to get to the beach, so be prepared. 

You can get updates on when they will close the restrooms for the season at https://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

Next we headed to Ptown to make our appointment with Anne Hutchin­son, who was tried and convicted of heresy in the 1600s and banished from the Bay Colony (that’s us). She moved to Rhode Island, then to Long Island (before it was New York), where she and all but one of her children were killed by Native Americans. 

Ms. Hutchinson, who had 15 children, challenged the patriarchy, gender norms, and religion. 

They said she had “rather been a Husband than a Wife and a preacher than a Hearer; and a Magistrate than a Subject.” 

There are memorials to her in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York, and she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994.

The modern Day Anne Hutchinson is a colorful character who also defies gender norms.

Her tour includes a little bit of history sprinkled with some fun speculation and a lot of entertaining commentary; but a bit on the raunchy side with liberal use or the f-word, so not for kids. 

The tour starts at the bas relief of the Pilgrims signing the Mayflower Compact, right near the Pilgrim Monument. We did not have time to climb the monument, although neither one of us wanted to anyway. The last trip up is at 4:15. It’s 116 steps and 60 ramps. Tori and I both admitted the view and photos would have been spectacular. Maybe next time…

And, yes, the Pilgrims apparently landed in Ptown first, but it was an “oops” and they left after only a few weeks.

President Theodore Roosevelt* laid the cornerstone for the 252-foot tower in 1907. In 1910, President William Taft dedicated the tower.

Ms. Hutchinson had many a colorful comment on the Pilgrims, Puritans, their interpretation of law and religion, and their influence.

Learn more about Anne Hutchin­son at: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographiesanne-hutchinson. 

After the tour, which was about an hour, but did not cover a lot of  ground, so it was easy on the feet (which had no socks on, ahem), we simply walked around Commercial Street and visited shops.

Ptown still has a couple of bookstores, including Womencrafts, which has all kinds of cool other stuff, too, and is definitely a feminist space.

We dropped into the Visitor Center and grabbed a bunch of brochures for walking tours and bike tours, maps and things to do.

We parked alongside MacMillan Pier ($20 flat) and before heading out we drove to the end of the pier. By then it was around 5:30 p.m. and all the businesses were closed. Macmillan Pier is where you find the Whale Watches and other on-water activities.

One whole side of the wharf has the on-water vendors. The other side has the fishing fleet and recreational boaters. 

Ptown’s fishing industry landed $3,130,840 pounds of catch with an ex-vessel value of $7,721,452 in 2018, the latest information on the state’s port profile website. New Bedford, of course, is the largest, so it’s probably not fair to compare (but I will): 544,001,892 pounds landed.

The Tourism Office is open all year, and there are events all year long. (See sidebar.)

Halloween weekend is coming up Oct. 28-31 and includes a Ball at Town Hall; Women’s Week begins 10/7 (https://womensweekprovincetown.com); and ghost tours go through the end of October. 

In November look for the Ptown Food and Wind Fest, and the Lighting of the Pilgrim Monument.

Find these events and more at the links below.

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If you go…

The drive from Fairhaven is just about two hours depending on traffic.

Visit the Chamber of Commerce website, https://ptownchamber.com or e-mail info@ptownchamber.com or call 508.487.3424.

Visit the Office of Tourism website, https://ptowntourism.com, call 508 487-7000 ext. 5, email tourism@provincetown-ma.gov, or go in person, 330 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA, 02657 to pick up a nifty little brochure of a self guided tour with 50 stops in and around Commercial Street. It does not appear to be available online. The tourism office is open year round.

Public restrooms are available at MacMillan Pier, and are clean and staffed. It’s also a great place to park.

Book the Anne Hutchinson tour ($25, 18+ only) through https://www.tripadvisor.com/ or https://www.viator.com/ 

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*Fixes error from previous version. Wrong Roosevelt: Teddy, not FDR.

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