Historic District Survey Collection

Overview

Provincetown has been working for many years to complete a compressive Survey (also referred to as the Inventory) of its existing historic resources.  This work is completed using forms approved by the Massachusetts Historical Commission.  Each form provides an architectural description, historical narrative, a photograph and locus map, and discussion of style and date where known.  Most of Provincetown’s historic resources have an Inventory Form, but not all forms have all information completed.  Resources include buildings, monuments, burial grounds, and landscape features that are of historical, architectural, or archaeological importance.  The effort to complete a comprehensive Survey of Provincetown’s historic resources has been underway since 1976 when town residents completed survey forms for some of our most significant buildings.  In 1994, the Survey was greatly expanded by Tom Boland, Preservation Consultant when existing forms were updated and many new forms were completed.  The Survey was further expanded in 2003 by the firm Kise Straw & Kolodner who added additional forms and put all forms into a updated format.  To date, approximately 2,000 historic resources have been surveyed.  The effort to complete the Survey is an ongoing process as more information become accessible to complete historical narratives, and as more historic resources are identified and surveyed.  This Survey has been digitized and made available on this web site.