Provincetown: The Road Less Traveled

In the summer of 1940, Tennessee Williams was spotted on a number of occasions in Provincetown, the veritable queer hotspot at the tip of Cape Cod. Accounts of his frequent summer stays in P-Town through the decade confirm this is where the burgeoning playwright scrawled some of his most lauded works, including "The Glass Menagerie" and "A Streetcar Named Desire."

Perhaps Williams' aura is best captured in a nude photograph of him traipsing the beaches of P-Town, which hangs on the wall in A-House: The iconic dance club dubbed "the oldest gay bar in the country." It is said that Williams even found a blissful season of love in P-Town, adding to the magical realism of a place that lives at the end of the sea, a dreamscape as deep and mythical as the Atlantic Ocean.

It's not just Tennessee Williams in the 1940s that makes P-Town a notable queer destination. The popping seaside village has a long history of being a safe haven for those outside the mainstream, an enclave of diverse and inclusive poets, writers, alternative movie stars and more. This inclusive vibe stretches back to the town's humble beginnings where it was clear P-Town was something significant – the first landing place of the Mayflower Pilgrims in 1620. As P-Town developed through the 18th century, the tiny spot – comprised mostly of whalers and fishermen in those days – established itself as a fishing village and by the 19th century it was one of the largest whaling ports in the country.

As the whaling industry waned, the town's bohemian style kicked it into high gear at the turn of the 20th century with the arrival of an artist colony hastened by Charles Hawthorne. The painter opened the Cape School of Art in 1899, drawing in a cabal of artists and painters, writers and craftspeople. The Boston Globe famously called P-Town "the biggest art colony in the world," a declaration that continues to hold true. Today, Provincetown is known as America's oldest continuous art colony.

As the century unfolded, word got out about Provincetown's artistic roots and before long the once tiny fishing village grew to host a number of talented folks looking to escape the pressures of city life. With the likes of Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams showing up to its shores, P-Town was aptly titled the birthplace of modern American theater. The beatnik poets – notably immortalized in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" – found their bohemian lifestyle on the shores of Provincetown, and later esteemed novelists such as Kurt Vonnegut and Michael Cunningham made frequent visits. During the 1950s, popular entertainers like Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday played shows in Provincetown. It was not unlikely to catch a glimpse of these pioneers of American arts over a coffee at A-House, the aforementioned dance club that still has the Tennessee Williams nude photograph hanging on its walls today.

By mid-century, it became inescapable: P-Town was super gay. It wasn't just queer writers and artists that made it so. Gay men and women flocked to the boisterous destination for summer vacation and the town's welcoming alternative lifestyle spirit. Many simply didn't leave, setting up businesses and digging in roots. In the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, the gay community came together for those afflicted by the heinous disease.

"When AIDS happened, people came here as a safe haven," says Anthony Fuccillo, Director of Tourism for Provincetown. "It was the progressive environment and a progression of decades of avant-garde lifestyles that was inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community that led to P-Town becoming a We-Town for everyone."

Today, P-Town's history of inclusivity is encapsulated in a host of year-round events and celebrations. Perhaps its most notable event is Provincetown Pride, a "celebration [that] highlights what Provincetown has always been known for: LGBTQ+ awareness, empowerment and diversity," says the P-Town Tourism website. "There will be multiple events, parties and Pride programming throughout the weekend," which runs June 2–4, 2023.

In conjunction with Pride, Womxn of Color Weekend "is a four-day Pride designed to elevate, strengthen, educate and celebrate LGBTQ+ women of color, trans, nonbinary and gender fluid people of color," as it says on the WoCW website.

Likewise, Frolic – Men of Melanin, which runs June 15–19, 2023, is sure to be a big, bawdy blast. This year's theme – "Homecoming" – is serving up social mixers, pool parties, club nights and beach takeovers for you to meet men of color from every corner of the country. And the best part? Every event honors and celebrates P-Town's history rooted in an inclusive and diverse community.

"Two roads diverged in a wood," Robert Frost famously wrote in his poem "The Road Not Taken." "And I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." Maybe this line best captures the spirit that lives in the soil and whispers in the trees of Provincetown, a town at once the groundswell of those who defy the ordinary. If defiance is its heart, diversity and inclusivity are the blood that pumps through Provincetown's veins. And in 2023, look for it during your next visit – it's not to be missed.