(2009)
Fowler Cottage | Dune Shack 11.
Because Laura and Stanley Fowler lived in the dunes almost year-round in this cottage, built in 1949, they had that rarity: an attached garage. Woe to any stranger — or even neighbor — who wandered too close! The Fowlers were vigilant in protecting their privacy and their environment. Josephine Del Deo called them the “generals of the dunes’ first army of defense.” Laura Fowler came to befriend Peter Clemons and Marianne Benson, founders and proprietors of the Backshore Gallery (after first trying to chase them away). In 1990, living in Florida and too frail to care for the cottage, she placed its care in their hands. The government did not regard them as the owners, however. After Fowler died in 2006, the National Park Service brought in the Provincetown Community Compact to manage the shack.
¶ Adapted from Building Provincetown (2015).