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Photos from the collection of the Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association
Memorial bas relief of signing of the Mayflower Compact done by Cyrus Dallin in 1921.(top)
George Elmer Browne's painting of the grand plan proposed by the Provincetown Tercentenary Committee that was never executed. The original painting is on display in Town Hall.(bottom) |
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History Highlights:
The Bas Relief
Laurel Guadazno
BANNER COLUMNIST
The 300th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims was occasion for great celebration. A committee was formed to decide what the town should do to commemorate the event. It was called the Provincetown Tercentenary Committee and was formed on Sept. 5, 1919 for the purpose of establishing a permanent memorial of the 300th anniversary, in 1920, of the first landing of the Pilgrims here, and their life here and in the neighborhood, and of the 'The Founding of the Nation in our Harbor.'' The committee was composed of the Selectmen, a special town committee, and delegates from all the town organizations, and from the neighboring towns on Cape Cod. Many grand plans were discussed. Each group had its own bias. The Sept. 28, 1919 Boston Sunday Post published the opinions of prominent citizens and groups. Local clergy wanted a religious observance. The Board of Trade proposed a recreation pier. All the groups agreed that a substantial request for funds from Congress for an appropriation to finance the plans was necessary. The most popular plan was described by John F. Snow, Secretary of the Board of Trade. He wrote to the Hon. Joseph Walsh in Washington, 'While Provincetown wishes in no way to take away from Plymouth any of the honors which belong to it, yet we feel that Provincetown should have a part in such a celebration. In trying to do its part, we need money, and we think some gift should be applied to our own town, and we ask if you will use your best endeavors to have some such division made. The object for which we need this is to build a recreation pier or park on land that may be obtained, building stone stairs to the top of the hill on the front and a new road leading to the top where the monument now stands, on the east side. This would complete the approaches to the monument and something permanent would be the result.' The prominent local artist George Elmer Browne painted a tentative plan of the proposed memorial that is still on display in Provincetown Town Hall.
The proposed plan must have proved too ambitious and/or too expensive. What the Provincetown Tercentenary Committee finally erected was the large bas relief, depicting the signing of the Mayflower Compact by the Pilgrim Fathers in the cabin of the Mayflower. The memorial bas relief is framed by a granite structure 70 feet long and 20 feet high. The bronze bas relief, cast by the Gorham Corporation of Providence, R.I., is nine by 16 feet, and the entire structure cost $40,000.
The bas relief was designed by the well-known artist Cyrus Dallin. Dallin gained notice when he won the contract to execute the statue of Paul Revere to be placed in downtown Boston near Old North Church. Another well-known and typical Dallin work is the 'Appeal to the Great Spirit' located in front of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Many local guides indicate that the bas relief was put in place in 1920. For instance, M. C. Hatch in 'The Log of Provincetown and Truro on Cape Cod,' writes, 'In 1920 Provincetown held her Tercentenary Celebration, a fine affair, with parades, speeches, floats and distinguished visitors. It was at this time that the beautiful bas relief, ėThe Signing of the Compact,' was unveiled.' There is no record, however, of its unveiling in the program of events that took place that year, and the bas relief itself is dated 1921. Some evidence indicates that the park where the bas relief is located was created in 1921 and it is likely that the bas relief was installed a year later in 1922.
[Laurel Guadazno is Visitor Services Manager for the Pilgrim Monument & Provincetown Museum. She also writes 'History Highlights,' heard regularly on WOMR, 92.1 FM.]
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Provincetown Banner News
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Mar 17th, 2011