^{Images courtesy of Joseph P. Healy Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston}

Provincetown’s History Told Through Artifacts

by Steve Desroches 

Celebrating diversity, welcoming the outsider, and working for equality have long been parts of the culture of Provincetown. But of course hatred and bigotry can take hold anywhere. Such was the case in the early days of Delft Haven. 

Named for the Dutch port the Pilgrims disembarked from beginning their journey across the Atlantic, Delft Haven was built as a cottage colony in Provincetown in 1935 by Ralph Snow Carpenter and Constance Adams Carpenter. No fans of the bohemian culture and working-class folks in Provincetown, the Carpenters made no attempt to hide their elitism, boasting that Delft Haven was for a “better” class of people and that until Delft Haven there were no proper accommodations for their kind of people. And indeed, Delft Haven did attract wealth and celebrity. It also attracted the ire of many in town for the insulting attitude as well as this promotional brochure that came out, which at the bottom says “Patronage Restricted.” At the time, the anti-Semitism of that phrase was well understood, and while common throughout most of Cape Cod, such messages were very rare in Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown, which at the time hosted a large Jewish community largely from New York City each summer. It would also mean no people of color were welcome. Ralph had a clear idea as to who he wanted as visitors to Provincetown: white, Christian, conservative, and wealthy. And definitely heterosexual. 

In 1951 a longtime guest wrote to the Carpenters to say he and his wife would no longer be visiting Provincetown, saying: “I have decided to cancel our reservation this year. Our decision was difficult because Delft Haven is the perfect vacation spot. It is the changing face of Provincetown itself that turned our decision. Primarily the swarming numbers of ‘queer boys.’ They flood all over our favorite eating spots, they cavort around Long Nook Beach, they almost fill the walks in Provincetown. If one is willing to imprison himself at Delft Haven he can avoid them, but we like to browse around town and have leisurely meals without their disturbing influence. If things should change in this regard we would attempt to regain a position on your register without delay.”

At this point, Ralph was a member of what was then the Board of Selectmen. And in response to this complaint he, along with fellow board members Frank H. Barnett and William A. White, wrote a letter titled “An Appeal to all Decent People in the Town of Provincetown”, which was published in the Provincetown Advocate, the newspaper of the day. It was meant as a call to arms to rid the town of the large and growing gay population and to admonish the straight allies the community had in town. It closed with:

“We need your articulate and militant support. Exert the power of your influence to help stamp out this degrading and soul destroying influence. Save our boys and girls from complete moral degradation. Let the forces of righteousness stand up and be counted and be as diligent in forwarding their cause as the forces of evil. We cannot sit calmly by and see a small group of unscrupulous and Godless people barter the souls of our youth for a few dirty dollars. Let us not permit our town to become a Sodom or Gomorrah.”

A quick glance around modern day Provincetown lets you know how successful their crusade was. The Carpenters sold Delft Haven in the early 1970s, and after several subsequent owners the Delft Haven cottages were sold off as condos, one of the first conversions in Provincetown. Come 1981, with many of the cottages owned by gay men, an informal party began on the beach the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend  called the Delft Haven Croquet and Cocktail Tournament, where guests were encouraged to wear white before the fashion rules of New England kicked in. The party continued and grew, and began to take on an added level of importance in the early days of the HIV and AIDS crisis. It became part celebration, part memorial, and part organizing. The party ended in 1987, but was revived in 1994, becoming the White Party. 

It also morphed into a fundraiser for Outer Cape Health Services, donating almost one million dollars to date. The White Party has become a Provincetown institution and welcomes people of all races, creeds, colors, gender, and sexual orientation in stark contrast to Delft Haven’s origin story. This brochure, in the collection of the Joseph P. Healy Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston acts as a reminder that bigotry can indeed be defeated