Provincetown - Pilgrim Monument

God was watching over us while we were scaling those slick granite rocks, as we soon found out. We finally made it back to the car and hadn't been in our seats for more than a couple of minutes when it started raining. I don't mean misting, I mean RAINING! We were tired, but at least we didn't get soaking wet! We drove around P-town for a bit to thaw out, then we decided to go see the Pilgrim Monument. We paid $10 for parking (only to get stiffed on the way out when the parking attendant wasn't there to give us our refund for the voucher we earned by buying tickets to the monument) and got out to check out the monument. We strolled through the museum in search of a bathroom and saw some pretty interesting things along the way. One of the biggest things we saw was an actual whale jawbone. That thing was HUGE!



There were also several other interesting exhibits in the museum. We looked at some of those and then made the wet trek out to the monument. Here is a little information about the Pilgrim Monument:

The Pilgrim Monument was built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate the first landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims in Provincetown on November 21, 1620.

The tower is 252 feet, 7.5 inches (77 meters) tall and rises 350 feet above sea level!

The heart-healthy walk to the top on 116 steps and 60 ramps only takes about 10 minutes at a leisurely pace.

The Pilgrim Monument is the tallest all-granite structure in the United States. The granite came from Stonington, Maine, and each stone is the thickness of the wall. The design is patterned after the Torre Del Mangia in Siena, Italy.

During your climb, you'll see many interior stones that were donated by cities, towns and organizations from all of the United States.

President Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone on August 20, 1907.

President William H. Taft led the dedication ceremony after the Pilgrim Monument's completion on August 5, 1910.

The Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum is Cape Cod's oldest non-profit and cultural institution.

I don't know about the "heart healthy" part of the statement above, but it was certainly a climb! I thought I was going to die before we got to the top! Between the excursion on the breakwater and my broken toe, I was worn out! We persevered and made it all the way to the top. The views were beautiful, if a little soggy at the time.

Exterior view

Inside looking up!

Inside looking down!

Of course, I borrowed the first picture in that series, because the skies looked NOTHING like those blue skies while we were there! I didn't manage to take any pictures from the top of the monument because the rain was blowing around too much, but needless to say, the views were impressive.

Even though it was a long way to the top, I was so glad we stopped to see this little bit of history. The climb up and down was enough to work up a raging hunger, too! At last, IT'S LOBSTER TIME!