Long Point Lighthouse Provincetown, Cape Cod

Long Point Lighthouse Provincetown, Cape Cod

16” x 20” Acrylic stretched canvas, Natural wood frame 

Painted from a friends photo

Long Point is a peninsula located in Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the extreme tip of Cape Cod, as it curls back in on itself to create Provincetown Harbor. The Long Point Light was built on this point in 1827. The lighthouse once shared this peninsula with a settlement of fishermen that came to be known as Long Point, Massachusetts. This Provincetown village grew and thrived from 1818 until the late 1850s. When the settlers decided to leave Long Point, they took most of their houses with them – about 30 homes in all – by floating them across the harbor.

During the American Civil War, the military established a defensive coastal artillery post and garrison at this location. The Long Point Battery came to be known as "Fort Useless" and "Fort Ridiculous" among the local residents.

Today, Long Point is a ghost village – nothing remains, except for the lighthouse and an earthen mound, the last remnant from the earlier military post.  One cultural artifact that remains visible but unconnected to that history is a cross honoring the memory of Charles Darby, an American soldier shot down over Holland in 1944.

e.