"Land's End" a Provincetown Travel Page by emilienoelle

Provincetown lies at the very tip of Cape Cod, that little wisp of land spewing out into the Bay. Today it is known mostly as a vacation destination for gays and lesbians--at least to most of the world. And while it is this, and I think it's great; it is still much, much more.

When I was growing up I went to Provincetown nearly every summer. It is my one of my mother's favorite places on earth. When she was growing up in Michigan she heard stories about it from my grandfather, whose shipmate from the Navy in the Second World War had grown up there, one son in a long line of Portuguese fishermen.

I remember taking my grandfather to visit Provincetown, and his friend, on many occasions when I was young. In his elder years he lived in Arizona. He never quite got over missing the sea.

Before Provincetown was what it is today, that is a major vacation destination, it was a Portuguese fishing village and artist colony. Many aspects of both of these things still exist today. In fact most of the town's permanent population is still of Portuguese descent, which is very apparent in the food found in many of the restaurants, the festivals and many of the town's businesses.

Provincetown is also still home to many artists. The downtown area is full of galleries. Though it may not be the cheap haven it once was for creative people, it still manages to hold on to this tradition.

Today I love Provincetown not just because of its history, but because of the gay and lesbian people who call the town home. Their work fighting for the equality of all people is one of the reasons that Massachusetts is the only state in the United States where gay people can legally marry. They make me proud to live here and to call this state my home.

Although I can't tell you very much about the gay and lesbian culture in Provincetown, not being one myself, I can tell you what I know. Which I guess is all that anyone ever can really do.