(1961)
Measured mile, south targets.
A postcard aerial view of the Provincetown Inn shows the southern pair of target towers by which mariners at sea could accurately gauge their speed over a course of one nautical mile or one-and-one-half nautical miles. The towers lasted at least into the 1960s. There’s a fuller discussion on Measured mile, north targets.
The brutal storms of January 2018 all but leveled dunes at the southern end of Herring Cove, opening a breach in the beachfront and revealing the long-lost footings of the outermost south target tower. Their runic quality instantly took hold of the popular imagination. Jay Critchley transformed the three ragged concrete stubs into an environmental artwork called Shrouded Rainbow.
¶ Last updated on 10 September 2018. ¶ Image courtesy of the Provincetown History Preservation Project, Dowd Collection, Page 1838. (Scrapbooks of Althea Boxell, Book 6, Page 42.)
Footings of the measured-mile target in 2018. Photos by David W. Dunlap.
Shrouded Rainbow No. 1: Passion (red) – the transformation of the natural and civic environment (2018), by Jay Critchley.