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Photo from Nautilus Club Archive, Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum
The ornate drinking fountain donated to the town of Provincetown in 1913 by the Nautilus Club. |
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A Fountain of Mystery
Famous vaudeville entertainer Blanche Ring toured Cape Cod in 1914. The stocky comedian, most well-known for singing the hit song “Come Josephine in My Flying Machine,” wrote a column about her holiday. She visited the Pilgrim Monument, but for her this was not the most memorable thing in Provincetown. “As far as I am concerned,” she writes, “the Clam Pie I discovered while touring the Cape in my car last summer impressed me far more than the monument did, and might well be dedicated to the historical event of which all the natives are so proud. I begged and obtained the recipe for this delicious dish from Miss Louise C. Paine, president of the Nautilus Club, an organization that provides afternoon tea for thirsty visitors and drinking fountains for horses and dogs, whether visitors or residents.”
She continues, “Miss Paine tried to tell me all about the history of the town, but I interrupted her long enough to obtain the following: One pint soft shell clams. Remove sacks, wash in several waters to free from sand. Chop fine. Fry out three medium slices of fat pork and remove scraps. Into this put the prepared clams and cook a few minutes. Thicken with flour mixed with a little cold water. Stir until it becomes quite thick. Season with a little butter, pepper and salt if necessary. Cool and bake between crusts same as apple pie. Serve hot.”
The point of this story is not clam pie, or the Pilgrim Monument, but rather the fountain for horses and dogs mentioned in passing by Miss Ring. The Nautilus Club, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year, donated a handsome fountain to the town of Provincetown in 1913. A letter in one of the club’s scrapbooks from the office of the selectmen acknowledges their donation: “We accept this gift with pleasure, and congratulate you on the public spirit which prompted it. It has proved a blessing to dumb animals and is an ornament to the town.”
The large ornate fountain was placed on the east lawn of Town Hall. A history of the organization written by club historian Palmyra Irmer says the fountain was its most impressive contribution to the town. “There had been a dipper fountain but this was abolished as being unsanitary. So we asked for voluntary contributions of ten cents or more, this fountain was placed on the east side of Town Hall. A section of iron fence was removed and a cement foundation installed, where horses could come right up to the curb.”
Everyone who sees the photo of this impressive fountain wonders what happened to it. The fountain is mentioned in newspaper articles in 1933, once in the spring when the writer in the Advocate’s personal column notes, “The first sign of warm summer days is the drinking fountain outside the town hall being uncovered and painted,” and again later in the same year in Jessie Hughes’ column “Up-along and Down-along.” Hughes writes, “One of the first signs of winter is the covering of the drinking fountain by the town hall.”
I thought possibly the fountain had been removed when Ryder Street was widened. Town Meeting voted to widen Ryder Street approximately 18 feet for diagonal parking, to move and replant trees, and to install a new concrete curb and sidewalk, to make room to park approximately 50 cars, in 1947. The town records show no discussion about removing or relocating the fountain. Since they do reflect that Susan Glaspell objected to the project to widen Ryder Street because of the possible loss of trees on the lawn, I think the fountain must have been removed by this time. As a member of the Nautilus Club, surely Susan Glaspell would have mentioned the fountain if it had still been there.
I suppose the fountain outlived its usefulness, and was simply removed when automobiles replaced horse-drawn carriages some time between 1933 and 1947. It seems hard to believe that there wasn’t some discussion about the fate of this magnificent fountain. I wonder, does anyone remember what happened to the fountain that once adorned the lawn at Town Hall?
[Laurel Guadazno is curator of education for the Pilgrim Monument & Provincetown Museum.]
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Jun 15th, 2006