Ownership of Cape Cod Land in Dispute

Questions as to the ownership of land on Cape Cod today dates back to who really has the rights that seem to have been given to the Colony back in the 1600's.

Upon the union of Plymouth colony with the colony of Massachusetts Bay, in 1692, the province of Massachusettgs Bay succeeded to all rights of Plymouth colony in the lands at Cape Cod, and later, upon the establishment of the state government, the Commonwealth of MA became the proprietor of the lands which since 1692 have been known as the "Province Lands." The Commonwealth, however, has never exercised any of the proprietary rights usually attached to the ownership of land, yet by various statutes, the last of which was passed in 1854, has continued to assert its legal title, section 8, of chapter 262, of the acts of 1854, providing that "The Title of the Commonwealth as owner, in fee, to all the Province Lands within the town of Provincetown is hereby asserted and declared, and no adverse possession or occupation thereof by any individual, company, or corporation, for any period of time shall be sufficient to defeat or divest the title of the Commonwealth thereto." Not until after 1700 does any evidence exist of private occupation of distinct tracts of lands. The circumstances of the early settlement of the town are also held in considerable obscurity by the absence of any recorded transfers of real estate. From the very beginning of the colony at Plymouth the importance of fisheries at Cape Cod was appreciated by private individuals as well as by the government of the colony.The shores of the harbor were visited yearly by fishermen from the other towns of the colony, but the earliest existing town records begin with the year 1724. Other evidence exists showing that a settlement had been begun before 1700, notably the record of births preserved in the clerk's office of the town of Provincetown, which shows that Ezekiel Cushing, son of Rev. Jeremiah and Hannah Cushing, was born here April 28, 1698. Rev. Mr. Cushing was a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1676 and was the first resident preacher at Cape Cod.

The first public act with reference to the establishing of a municipal government at Cape Cod was passed in 1714. Previous to that year the "Province Lands" seem to have been regarded as a part of Truro for municipal purposes. The population of Cape Cod at that date cannot now be ascertained. A very interesting letter published in "Freeman's Cape Cod" affords, however, the data for a belief that in 1705, 130 men were at Cape Cod, though very likely many of them were temporary residents, pursuing the fisheries during the summer season.

The act of 1714 covered all the Province Lands at the Cape, a district or precinct entitled"The Precinct of Cape Cod". The act is entitled "An act for preserving the harbor at Cape Cod and regulating the inhabitants and sojourners there.

The continued increase in inhabitants of Cape Cod resulted in the presentation in 1727 of a petition to the General Court asking for the incorporation of the precinct as a separate town. The name selected -- Herringtown-- found little favor with the General Court. The following act, passed July 14, 1727, contains the first use of the word Provincetown in connection with the Precinct of Cape Cod. "Be it enacted, etc., that all the lands on said Cape (being Province Lands) be and hereby are constituted a township by the name of Provincetown, and that the inhabitants thereof be invested with the powers privileges and immunities that any of the inhabitants of any of the towns within the Province by law, are, or ought to be, invested with, SAVING ALWAYS THE RIGHT OF THIS PROVINCE TO SAID LAND, which is to be in no wise prejudiced, and provided that no person or persons be hindered and obstructed in building such wharves, stages, work houses, and flakes and other things as shall be necessary for the salting, keeping, and packing their fish or in cutting down and taking such trees and other materials growing on said Province lands as shall be needful for that purpose, or in any sort of fishing whaling, or getting of bait at the said Cape; but that the same be held as common as theretofore with all the privileges and advantages thereunto in any wise belonging."