Author(s): Jane Paradise

Photography

This insider's tour of the dune shacks of Provincetown, Massachusetts, combines images and quotes to bring to life the world of these rustic yet beautiful structures scattered across the Cape Cod National Seashore. Photographer and Provincetown resident Jane Paradise has captured their essence and spirit over nearly a decade of artist residencies and visits in the shacks.

Nearly 100 color photographs explore exteriors and interiors of the 19 shacks, as well as the breathtaking dune landscapes and ocean that batter and beautify them. Accompanying quotations share stories of the eclectic people who have stayed in and cared for these places of artistic creativity and connection with nature, such as
Henry David Thoreau, Tennessee Williams, Mary Oliver, Norman Mailer, Jack Kerouac, Josephine Del Deo, Charles Demuth, and Henry Beston.

Also included are the reflections by less known but equally fascinating local artists, residents, shack dwellers, and dreamers of all types.

Today, novice and celebrated artists and writers, hardy families, and curious travelers still find these hand-built homes a haven of inspiration and solitude. Without electricity and running water, these modest houses are forerunners of the tiny-house movement and off-the-grid living.

Provincetown is home of the oldest continuous artist colony in the United States, and Peaked Hill Bars Historic District is a cultural treasure that most people never see. The book includes an excerpt from the National Register of Historic Places nomination as well as an essay by an elderly shack resident, placing this unique cultural resource into a historical and personal context.

Tourists and locals alike will love this photographic journey back in time to a place of refuge and renewal--sure to inspire and evoke wanderlust in us all.