Freedom at Water's Edge

Provincetown: From Pilgrim Landing to Gay Resort by Karen Christel Krahulik

(A book review by Mark Krone)

Sitting precariously on a spit of sand at the outermost edge of Cape Cod, Provincetown, is more than a fading fishing village turned seaside resort. There is an ephemeral, "Atlantis" quality to the town, having to do with its tilt toward individual freedom and a tropical light that burns itself onto the sides of buildings and boats at the end of warm afternoons. But it is also a New England town with a white Unitarian church and a good library. Yet on some summer nights, especially outside the Atlantic House, the most popular gay nightclub, a Rio sexiness inhabits the tops of the breezes from Cape Cod bay and all bets (and shirts) are off. The very name "Provincetown" elicits reactions political, historical, sensual, moral, recreational, and nautical, depending on who you are. It is a kind of seaside Rorschach test.

Apparently, Provincetown was always a summer place. Before the Europeans arrived, the Paomet Indians summered here, preferring to live in the nearby town of Truro the rest of the year. The Pilgrims (who landed here before Plymouth Rock) saw it as an answered prayer after many horrifying months on the high seas. Portugese fishermen who were probably first drawn to Provincetown while fishing the fertile waters of the Great Banks off New England, came for a steady livelihood. For several generations of gay people, artists, writers, and those who are drawn to them, Provincetown has been a refuge in which to work, make love and live life without being the object of shock or worse. In time, a prevailing sense of freedom arose despite occasional attempts to impose restrictions by officials or local toughs.

A place as colorful and historic as Provincetown is a natural for writers but surprisingly few books have been written about it and until now, no comprehensive history. Karen Christel Krahulik’s Provincetown: From Pilgrim Landing to Gay Resort (NYU Press, 2005) admirably provides an overdue record of the town’s history. She traces its transformations: from Yankee whaling stronghold to Portugese fishing village to artist retreat and gay resort and finally to exclusive enclave. Krahulik is careful to point out that these transformations were not easily catagorized (there were for example, gay Portugese fishermen, straight artists, Portugese men who did not fish, Yankees who married Portugese and so forth). For those who love the town, it is a comfort to know that someone has finally given it the scholarly attention it deserves. But one is left wondering, where are the stories? For most towns, a careful economic history as provided by Krahulik suffices, but not this one. Eccentricity, personal expression, and sexual liberation cannot be captured without stories. This is a book about one of the most colorful towns in the nation, yet it is written in black and white.

Eugene O’Neill first arrived in Provincetown in the summer of 1916 and returned for two succeeding summers. He wrote his early sea plays in the town and several of them were performed on Lewis Wharf in Provincetown harbor, marking the beginning of modern American drama. As America and the world slid toward World War I, Provincetown enjoyed one of its most storied summers in 1917. O’Neill was joined by journalist John Reed, playwrights Susan Glaspell, George "Jig" Cook (her husband), Neith Boyce, writer/poet Harry Kemp (who would remain in the town to become one of its most beloved literary and eccentric figures), artists, Marsden Hartley and Charles Demuth, scene designer Robert Edmond Jones, and socialite Mabel Dodge (who occasionally supported several of the artists and had an affair with John Reed). There are breathing, feeling people behind these august names but Krahulik does not show them to us. Their artistic output is cataloged but not interpreted.

Krahulik is at her most effective when explaining the role of class on the town’s transformations. This is noteworthy because it is unusual for American authors to touch, let alone tackle, class as a factor in American life, even as it becomes increasingly central to understanding our society. When Portugese women took in "bachelors" and "single ladies" as summer house guests while their husbands were at sea, they did so to pay the bills but ended up transforming the town. Indeed, Krahulik points to the acceptance of gay people by the town’s (Catholic) Portugese residents as a crucial element in the creation of modern Provincetown.

Though many seaside towns have displaced local fishing families in favor of tourists and "summer people," only a handful have transformed themselves into gay resorts. Krahulik, with the eye of an epidemiologist, bravely attempts to pinpoint the single causal agent that turned a trend into a tide, making Provincetown a gay resort. She zeroes in on artist Marsden Hartley. (Inexplicably, Hartley’s name does not appear in the book’s index.) When Hartley met his partner, Charles Demuth (also an artist) he brought him to Provincetown for a visit. Both soon decided to stay. By the late teens, they were year-round residents, well-known to the locals, who accepted them despite their openness as a couple. It did not hurt that they were financially able to patronize local stores and hire residents to work on their home. Though they were decidedly flamboyant in dress for their time, Hartley and Demuth became valued members of the community. It is significant that they entertained many gay people from out-of town frequently, thereby introducing others to the town’s relative openness. Soon, they were followed by other gay couples and singles.

Krahulik traces the beginnings of gay male and lesbian-owned guesthouses and shops. Here, she verges on telling a story! A lesbian-owned store began offering a 10% discount to lesbian customers. The effect on the women who were offered the "lesbian discount" was unexpected. Women interviewed years later mentioned that what might have seemed a small thing to others, the "lesbian discount" was the first time they were ever offered anything for being gay. Some women stated their sexual orientation at that store for the first time in their lives.
Krahulik’s careful description of methodology and use of academic language make clear long before she comes clean that the book began as a graduate dissertation. Of course, many important books have had such beginnings, but this does not require them to remain dissertations. Before a disertation can become a book, its dust must be beaten out like a rug after winter. Still, Provincetown: From Pilgrim Landing to Gay Resort is a valuable book that will forever record the economic and (to some extent) social history of one of the nation’s most interesting towns. Ms. Krahulik has written with care, precision and integrity. For this, readers should be grateful.