Beech Forest Pond.
A Provincetown Winter
The jewel that is Provincetown is at the remote tip of Cape Cod, a 90-minute drive that begins by crossing the Cape Cod Canal on either the Bourne or Sagamore bridges. It's a boring drive for the first forty-five minutes, but then as the Cape narrows, you pass along the outskirts of quaint New England towns. Six miles before you reach Provincetown, the road climbs a sandy hill where you see the remaining miles of the Cape curved like a croissant before you between the Atlantic ocean and the sparkling bay.
You can also cross the bay by ferry from Boston or Plymouth, or by a 15 or 20-minute ride by small plane from Boston's Logan airport, though these don't operate through the colder off-season months.
When I lived there, the winter population was around 5,000 and the weather was mostly frigid and gray, yet there was a special magic to the town's long isolation. Most businesses closed from mid to late October thru April or May, but a handful of bars and restaurants stayed open for locals and off-season visitors. Snow didn't come often, but when it did, it was heavy and beautiful. In 1981, two huge snowstorms blanketed this part of the Cape in January and then again in December. Most of these photos were from that frigid January.
Work was scarce in the winter, so my film budget was mostly for black and white which I spooled, processed, and printed myself. Here are some of the photos from that magical first winter in Provincetown.
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