Land’s End Inn, 2022.
All photos courtesy of Land’s End Inn
Land’s End Inn Turns 100
by Steve Desroches
The Great Room of Land’s End Inn looks remarkably the same as it did when it was built as a private home in 1904. A fabulously eccentric structure atop Gull Hill in the far West End, in a part of town that locals used to refer to as Way Up Along, Land’s End Inn has been a constant in a town that continually goes through radical changes. From its vantage point, Land’s End Inn offers a near 360-degree view and a daily show of the extreme tidal flow of Provincetown Harbor. Within, it’s an aesthetic burst of all the parts that make up Provincetown itself: art, bohemian ways, queer culture, community, and a global perspective that assembles in this tiny town on a sand bar flung way out in the North Atlantic. This beacon of individuality and expression became an inn welcoming guests in 1926, and so it’s worth noting the rare preservation of an interior, as well as its spirit, upon Land’s End Inn’s centennial anniversary.
“A thing that was the biggest surprise to us was that this place was always a community gathering spot,” says Ed Macri, who bought the Inn with his husband Trevor Mikula in 2022. “This place has long been connected to the community.”
Indeed, it has from the beginning been not just a place for visitors to stay on a trip to Provincetown, but a beloved and fiercely guarded pulse point within the culture of the town and for the people who live here. With only seven owners over 100 years, the Inn’s name never changed, nor were there major architectural changes, even when substantial additions were made. It never went corporate and has fended off attempts by private equity to add it to their massive portfolios and inquiries from the super wealthy who want it as a second, or third or fourth home. All of those owners, recognizing the beauty, artistic and architectural importance, and its unique vibe saw Land’s End Inn almost as more of a work of art unto itself rather than just fabulous accommodations. Macri notes that previous owners all went through great pains to preserve the interior even when contractors said it would be easier and cheaper to bring it down to the studs. But gutting the Inn would be like adding a mustache to the Mona Lisa or putting clothes on Michelangelo’s David. So, too, would be shutting out the community.
The Inn was built by Charles Lothrop Higgins, who could trace his ancestry back to Peregrine White, a child born on the Mayflower when it was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. He intentionally made the bungalow unusual, reflecting his own flair as well as mixing cultures from places he traveled on his extensive voyages around the world. It gave his home a touch of a museum as, like today, every object tells a story. The stained-glass panels, the crystal balls and Tiffany lamps, the grandfather clock and fireplace mantle with the words from Psalm 39:3 in the Bible, “While I mused the fire burned.” Everything was and is curated.
“At every turn there is a surprise,” says Macri.
Note: the fireplace, stained glass above it, the grandfather clock to the left, and the columns remain unchanged to this day.
Those surprises were initially installed by Higgins and then maintained and added to by every subsequent owner, all with international sophistication as every owner has been an avid world traveler, such as the Buckler family who bought it in 1926 upon Higgins’ death and opened Land’s End Inn, decorating it with objects from their travels. In 1955 the Inn was purchased by Norman Lague and Jules Wade, who invited artists, actors, writer, and intellectuals for grand parties. But it would be David Schoolman, who owned the Inn from 1972 to his death from AIDS in 1995, that made the place the stuff of legends with his bohemian ways and the wild, mid-summer parties he threw for years.
Schoolman’s impact on Provincetown was so enormous that his name is still frequently mentioned in part for his support of the arts. He created the David Schoolman Trust, the entity created to benefit the creation of the Provincetown Theater, which sold the Inn to Michael McIntyre in 2001. McIntyre invited the community to Land’s End every holiday season for a community Christmas party. He sold the Inn in 2012 to Stan and Eva Sikorski, again world travelers and supporters of the arts who used the Inn to raise funds for local charities and artistic organizations. Ready to move on to new adventures, the Sikorskis wanted to make sure the Inn stayed in the hands of someone who would appreciate what it was, so they approached Macri and Mikula, convincing them to take the reins.
While all are welcome, Macri and Mikula are paying special attention to the important role Land’s End Inn has in LGBTQ history. Five out of the seven owners have been gay. Higgins was frequently referred to in newspapers as a “confirmed bachelor.” Lague and Wade introduced themselves as step-brothers, but they were actually partners. And McIntyre, Macri, and Mikula are also gay. For its entire history Land’s End Inn has been a sanctuary within a safe harbor for LGBTQ people. So much so that it features in the 1974 film, A Very Natural Thing, one of the first mainstream films to address a relationship between two gay men as a good thing and with a happy ending. It includes a scene with the couple in the Grand Room of Land’s End Inn before heading to the beach where they frolic naked in the surf as the credits roll.
The Inn continues the tradition of welcoming the community to mingle with guests throughout the summer with Chalice, a beer and wine bar, providing a chill vibe to enjoy the view, see the Inn, and have a drink before heading to their neighbor, the Red Inn or a stop over after a day at the beach or the pool at the Provincetown Inn. That neighborly vibe is part of the charm, say Macri and Mikula.
“I love it in the summer, being out on the lawn, looking over the harbor,” says Mikula. “And there are days when the windows over at the Red Inn are open and you can hear [bartender] Bob Keary’s laughter. I love it.”
Land’s End Inn is located at 22 Commercial St. and is open year-round. Chalice is open Thursday through Sunday 4 – 8 p.m. Memorial Day Weekend through the end of September. For more information call 508.487.0706 or visit landsendinn.com.
