At the Edge of the Earth: A Stroll Through Provincetown's West End

Provincetown sits at the very tip of Cape Cod, where American history, bohemian art, and maritime life have collided for centuries. On this walking tour, you'll trace the West End's story from a 19th-century fishing village to one of the most creatively charged communities in America. You'll also hear how the Pilgrims, Abstract Expressionists, and LGBTQ+ pioneers all left their mark on the same narrow streets.

The tour starts at The Turn on Commercial Street – a bend in the road that exists because one stubborn homeowner refused to move his house when the street was widened in the 1830s. From there, you'll walk past weathered clapboard homes that were literally floated across the harbour on barrels in the 1850s, past the former home of Hans Hofmann, whose summer school here helped launch Abstract Expressionism, and up to the Land's End Inn, a cedar-shingled Gilded Age estate perched at the West End's highest point with views across Cape Cod Bay.

The route continues along the waterfront to Delft Haven, a cluster of cottages whose Dutch-gabled design nods to the Pilgrims' 12-year refuge in Holland before their crossing. Nearby, you'll step into the Provincetown Inn to see Don Aikens' sweeping murals, painted in the 1960s and 70s, depicting the lost village of Long Point before its houses set sail. The tour ends at Pilgrims First Landing Park and the West End Breakwater, where the Mayflower anchored in 1620 and the Mayflower Compact was signed.

On this 60-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Spot the house at 103 Commercial Street that served as the Gardner family home in American Horror Story: Double Feature
• Hear about Captain Jack's Wharf, where Tennessee Williams spent summers writing among salt-sprayed fishing shacks
• Learn about Congressman Gerry Studds, America's first openly gay congressman, who lived and advocated here
• Visit the Red Inn, built in 1805, which hosted Theodore Roosevelt, Eugene O'Neill, and the Duchess of Windsor
• Discover the AIDS Memorial, set within Pilgrims First Landing Park, with water flowing over dark quartzite stone

This tour rewards the curious – every building on these streets has a story worth hearing.