The Pilgrim Monument in
Provincetown
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...
,
, was built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate the first landfall of the
Pilgrims in 1620 and the signing of the
Mayflower Compact in
Provincetown Harbor
Provincetown Harbor is a large natural harbor located in the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts. The harbor is mostly deep and stretches roughly from northwest to southeast and from northeast to southwest – one large, deep basin with no dr ...
.
[ This campanile is the tallest all-]granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
structure in the United States and is part of the Provincetown Historic District.
History
In 1620, the Pilgrims spent five weeks exploring Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
before they sailed to Plymouth, Massachusetts
Plymouth (; historically known as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore, and culture, and is known as ...
. After spending weeks at sea, the Pilgrims resolved not to set foot on land until the Mayflower Compact was written and signed. A contest was held to design a structure to commemorate the Pilgrims' landing, and over 150 entries were submitted. The winning design, by Boston architect Willard T. Sears
Willard Thomas Sears (November 5, 1837 – May 21, 1920) was a prominent New England architect of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who worked primarily in the Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles.
In 1861, Sears opened ...
, was based upon the Torre del Mangia
The Torre del Mangia is a tower in Siena, in the Tuscany region of Italy. Built in 1338-1348, it is located in the Piazza del Campo, Siena's main square, next to the Palazzo Pubblico (Town Hall). When built it was one of the tallest secular tow ...
in Siena
Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.
The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, designed by Agostino and Agnolo da Siena in 1309.
In a ceremony on August 20, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
officiated at the laying of the cornerstone. After the monument's completion, President William H. Taft dedicated it at a ceremony held on August 5, 1910.
The design was controversial because of its lack of any obvious relevance to the Pilgrim Fathers. One Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
architect derided it, saying "If all they want is an architectural curiosity, then why not select the Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa ( it, torre pendente di Pisa), or simply, the Tower of Pisa (''torre di Pisa'' ), is the ''campanile'', or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unst ...
and be done with it?"["Call It Copy of Torre Del Mangia," ''The Boston Daily Globe,'' January 27, 1907, p. 7] It was also noted that Boston itself already had a copy of the same tower: Boston's fire tower. The fire tower is made of brick like the Italian original, was built in 1892 by Edmund March Wheelwright
Edmund March Wheelwright (September 14, 1854 – August 15, 1912) was one of New England's most important architects in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and served as city architect for Boston, Massachusetts from 1891&ndash ...
, is tall, was originally designed as part of the central fire station and used as a fire lookout, and later became part of the Pine Street Inn, a shelter for Boston's homeless.
However, ''The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' noted that "The people of Provincetown are not at all enthusiastic about the design, but are glad enough to get almost any sort of monument," and quoted "an old sea captain" as saying: "I don't sympathize with all the kicking about the monument. It's good enough, and it has this in its favor, that it resembles many lighthouses on the coast of Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
and on Portuguese Islands, and Provincetown, you know, is full of Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
."
Tourists from around the world visit Provincetown to climb the monument and view the Provincetown Museum at its base. The monument commemorates the Pilgrims, and the museum pays tribute to Provincetown's vibrant and historic maritime past. Provincetown residents take great pride in the structure. Christmas lights are strung from the top of the monument to its base annually and are lit in November to much fanfare. It remains lit nightly into January.
According to Edmund J. Carpenter in his book ''The Pilgrims and their Monument'' (self-published in 1911), the total expenditures in the planning and construction of the monument were $91,252.82,[Carpenter, Edmund J., ''The Pilgrims and their Monument'' (Cambridge, MA: Privately printed, 1911), 265.] .
Gallery
File:Pilgrim Monument (intérieur).jpg, alt=, Interior of the monument showing the ramps used to reach the top
File:Pilgrim Monument.png, alt=, Monument in 1910
References
External links
Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum
{{Mayflower passengers and related topics
1910 establishments in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures completed in 1910
Cummings and Sears buildings
Landmarks in Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Monuments and memorials in Massachusetts
Monuments and memorials to the Pilgrims
Museums in Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Towers in Massachusetts