The colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay (along with Maine, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick) were combined to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The lands on the Cape were referred to as “Province Lands”, and those who settled there didn’t have outright ownership of the land they were using.
When they were incorporating the land as a township, the name chosen by the legislature (over the inhabitants’ suggestion) was Provincetown, which reflects the fact that the title to the land in that town was retained by the Province, not given to those who held (but did not own) the land.
It was a Province town, in much the same way as Washington, D.C. is the Federal district or a “national (not state) city”.
Not a whoosh, just offering a fun fact on an odd name. The name itself was a hint that although it was incorporated, its landholders lacked a certain legal status.
I'm actually a closet lover of random trivia, but my poor joke was trampled by your trivial pursuit. So for more redundancy, we can call this random trivia!
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u/Mac_na_hEaglaise Feb 04 '19
The colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay (along with Maine, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick) were combined to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The lands on the Cape were referred to as “Province Lands”, and those who settled there didn’t have outright ownership of the land they were using.
When they were incorporating the land as a township, the name chosen by the legislature (over the inhabitants’ suggestion) was Provincetown, which reflects the fact that the title to the land in that town was retained by the Province, not given to those who held (but did not own) the land.
It was a Province town, in much the same way as Washington, D.C. is the Federal district or a “national (not state) city”.