Provincetown is one of my “happy places” - starting in the late ‘90s, I visited for a week each summer for a a decade or so. It’s a wonderful East Coast beach vacation spot, but also has the New England historical 1700s vibe going for it - pilgrims’ first landing spot, old Congregationalist churches, white federal style houses with black and green shutters, etc. And, as you’ll find out in this blog post, Provincetown also has its share of wonderful trees.

I had a chance to return to Provincetown this summer (July 2022), and was lucky to be able to spend a couple of hours walking around town with Margaret Murphy, founder and President of Trees Provincetown, a nonprofit that promotes trees in the town. Margaret showed me a number of her favorite trees, and also also pointed out some trees that were recently planted through her organization.

Margaret Murphy, under one of Provincetown’s nicest horse chestnut trees at 17 Tremont Street

Many of the the new trees are “Princeton elms” - a cultivar of American elm (Ulmus americana) that has some resistance to Dutch elm disease. The Princeton elms that I saw around town seemed to be flourishing.

a Princeton elm (*Ulmus americana ‘*Princeton’) at 46 Bradford Street

American elms were the dominant street tree of most cities of the northeast until Dutch elm disease wiped out most elms in the 20th century, and I suspect Provincetown also lost most of its elms to disease. However, the town still has some spectacular American elms with their classic V-shaped canopy - my favorite was the tree at 46 Commercial. I stopped to photograph the tree, and the residents mentioned to me that the tree had been treated (presumably with a fungicide) for Dutch elm disease.

American elm (*Ulmus americana*) at 46 Commercial Street

One of the most majestic trees in Provincetown is a huge little leaf linden tree (Tilia cordata) in the middle of town - on Portuguese Square between Commercial and Bradford Streets. If Provincetown ever adopts a landmark tree ordinance, this tree would get my vote!

little leaf linden tree (*Tilia cordata*) on Portuguese Square between Commercial and Bradford Streets

Another Provincetown “best in town” tree is the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) at 240 Commercial Street, right in the busiest part of town. It’s the best horse chestnut in town.

Now for a tree on the east side of Provincetown - the beautiful northern catalpa tree (Catalpa speciosa) in a beautifully landscaped yard at 558 Commercial Street. This is a tree we never see in San Francisco, so it was a treat to see this tree again - I remember ite from the 1990s when we used to visit Ptown every summer.

northern catalpa tree (*Catalpa speciosa*) at 558 Commercial Street

Another impressive east end tree (and the best of its species that I was able to find in town) was a huge Sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) across from 5 Court Street.

Sycamore maple (*Acer pseudoplatanus)* across from 5 Court Street

A pleasant bike ride north from town takes you to some beautiful bike trails, one of which loops around a beech forest, where you’ll find red maples, sassafras trees, and my favorite east coast tree, the American beech (Fagus grandifolia).

American beech (*Fagus grandifolia*) in Provincetown’s beech forest

Spiritus Pizza is an iconic Provincetown restaurant - in summertime when the bars close at 1AM (it’s Massachusetts - so yes, at 1AM), everyone pours into the street and ends up in a massive crowd outside Spiritus. So I had to ID the tree next to Spiritus - it’s a deciduous pear tree (Pyrus calleryana).

deciduous pear tree (*Pyrus calleryana*) outside Spiritus Pizza

There’s one tree that is forbidden to plant in Provincetown (and the rest of Massachusetts), and for good reason - the Norway maple (Acer platanoides). The northeastern US has so many wonderful maples - sugar maples, red maples, silver maples - that are native to the region and thrive there. Why plant a dull non-native that can’t hold up to the locals, but is aggressively invasive? And even worse in my opinion is the planting the purple-leafed cultivar of this tree - Norway maple ‘Crimson King’. I’m sorry if you have one in your front yard, but my advice if you’re thinking of planting this tree: don’t do this.

Norway maple (*Acer platanoides*) on Commercial Street in the west end of Provincetown

Speaking of sugar maples (one of my favorite trees of all time), they are hard to find in Provincetown. I suspect they aren’t well adapted to the sandy soil that is found in most of the town. I only found one sugar maple (Acer saccharum) in all of my bike travels - across from 11 Race Road, north of Bradford Street.

sugar maple (*Acer saccharum*) across from 11 Race Road

The west end of Provincetown is especially dense with mature landmark trees. Tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) are near the northern end of their range in this part of Massachusetts, but there’s a lovely mature tulip tree at 3 Tremont Street, near the intersection with Commercial Street.

Tulip tree (*Liriodendron tulipifera*) at 3 Tremont Street, near the intersection with Commercial Street

I’ll end on a sad note. My favorite tree from our prior decade of visiting Provincetown was a spectacular, massive Japanese pagoda tree (Styphnolobium japonicum) at the intersection where Commercial, Tremont and Franklin Streets intersect in the west end of town. In my opinion it was the landmark tree of Provincetown. Sadly, it has seen better days, and Margaret Murphy shared with me that she thinks it may not last more than a few more years. Apparently some sewer work on Commercial Street in front of the tree damaged its roots and sent it into decline. I wish I had a photo of it in its former glory; but in lieu of that, the photo below shows the tree in July 2022.