Dune Shacks of Peaked Hill Bars
The first shacks, built by the Humane Society in the 1800's, were intended
to save the lives of shipwrecked seamen. With the appearance of the US Lifesaving
Service, surfmen assigned to the shore for long, lonely stretches of time built more
sturdy structures to house their families. By the 1930's, others discovered the
"magic" of the shacks in the dunes, including artists and writers. Among
those who used the rustic outposts for inspiration were: Mabel Dodge, critic Edmund
Wilson, poets E.E. Cummings, Harry Kemp and Mary Oliver, painters Edwin Dickinson, Boris
Margo, Willem de Koonig and Jackson Pollock and authors Eugene O'Neill, Jack Kerouac and
Norman Mailer.
The shacks were listed with the National Register of Historic Places in
1989. Today, with one exception, they are owned by the National Park Service.
Two are currently leased by non-profit groups that provide artist-in-residence
experiences. Visitors to the Seashore may enjoy the interpretive hike that occurs
weekly during the summer which visits one of the artists-in-residence.
Shacks may also be seen by signing up for one of the Dune Tours in
P'town. (I will be doing this in the Fall and will feature some photos at that
time.)
Please click on Dune Tours for Fall
2000 photos of one of Art's Dune Tour trips.
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Old Harbor Life Saving Station The Old
Harbor Life Saving Station (circa 1897) is a remaining centerpiece of US Lifesaving
Service and "surfmen" history on Cape Cod. Until it was decommissioned in
July 1944, the station's purpose was to provide housing for US Coast Guard lifesaving
crews, storage for equipment and temporary shelter for rescued persons.
The Old harbor Life Saving Station, acquired by the National Park Service
in 1973, was threatened by coastal erosion in its original location at Nauset (North)
Beach in Chatham. In 1977, the structure was divided in two, lifted off its
foundation by two large cranes, swung out to a barge on the beach, and floated to
Provincetown Harbor. There it weathered the now-famous "Storm of 78" which
surely would have destroyed it. The building was taken off the barge and reassembled
on its present site, the stretch of shoreline known as Race Point. Old Harbor is
open during the summer months when historical reenactments of the breeches buoy rescues
are performed weekly. The life saver's motto was, "You
have to go, but you don't have to come back." Likewise, their work
earned them the title, "Guardians of the Ocean Graveyard" while
stationed on Cape Cod between 1872 and 1915. The Cape has been the
site of more than 3,000 shipwrecks in 300 years of recorded history.
In 1915, the U.S. Life Saving Service was incorporated into the newly
formed U.S. Coast Guard. |
