165 Commercial Street

Herbolt’s blacksmith shop.

Insurance maps of the late 1800s and very early 1900s show a substantial smithy on the site of what is now the Sandpiper Condominium. It was the workshop of William H. “Harry” Herbolt, a Nova Scotian who was born in the 1840s. He owned this property with his wife, Joan Freeman (Loring) Herbolt (1845-1932) of Provincetown. A business listing in Provincetown, or, Odds and Ends From the Tip End (1890) places Herbolt blacksmith shop at the head of Central Wharf, a location that this parcel certainly describes. Herbolt was enumerated in the 1880 census as a blacksmith, and in the 1900 census as a wheelwright, making or repairing wooden wheels. The Herbolts owned this property until 1906.

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The blue-gray 1½-story “BSm.” at the center of the frame was William H. Herbolt’s blacksmith shop. The very beginning of the Central Wharf can be seen in the lower right corner. (The numbers along Commercial Street are part of Sanborn’s building index; they are not addresses.) This detail of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map From Provincetown, Barnstable County, Massachusetts (1889), comes from the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division. Digital ID g3764pm.g038261889.

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¶ Last updated on 21 July 2020.

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165 Commercial Street on the Town Map.

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Also at 165 Commercial Street:

• Herbolt’s merry-go-round.

• Sandpiper Condominium.

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Thumbnail image: 1889 insurance map, cited above.

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In memoriam:

• Joan Freeman (Loring) Herbolt (1845-1932)

Find a Grave Memorial No. 60646863.

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