Dune Shacks

Interspersed among the dunes in Provincetown are a number of small, rustic shacks. The first dune shacks were built in the 1800s by the Humane Society in conjunction with lifesaving efforts, but as lifesaving personnel moved to more solid facilities, the shacks were discovered by artists and writers, who flocked to the dunes of the Cape in the 1930s and '40s for inspiration. Among the shacks' notable inhabitants were poets e.e. cummings, Harry Kemp and Mary Oliver; painters Edwin Dickinson, Boris Margo, Willem de Koonig and Jackson Pollock; and authors Eugene O'Neill, Jack Kerouac and Norman Mailer. 

In 1989, the shacks were listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the National Park Service took over ownership of all but one. Rob Costa, our Art's Dune Tours guide, explained that several are still occupied by the original "squatters" and that others are leased by the Park Service to those who "bid" to obtain a 15-year lease. The cost is only about $3,000 per year plus maintenance of the shack, but before you get all excited, realize that these shacks have no electricity, no running water and outhouses. Also, the "bidding" process involves submission of an essay explaining why you'd want to live in a dune shack. "It goes to the people with the pen, not the dollar," Costa said. Two of the shacks are currently leased to non-profit groups that provide shorter "artist-in-residence" experience for interested occupants.