For years the Provincetown (Ptown) nude beach scene has been at odds
with the federal government's National Park Service (NPS). In 1996 and 1997 the
situation degraded to the point where open animosity existed between the NPS and the local
community - official, straight and gay. A Provincetown Town Meeting voted that a
remote part of Herring Cove Beach should be considered a clothing optional area.
Although Herring Cove Beach is part of Ptown historically, unfortunately, it and most of
that part of Cape Cod are now controlled by the NPS. In a rare and uncharacteristic
attempt to defuse an increasingly volatile situation, the NPS quietly began to selectively
ignore the nude beach section of Herring Cove Beach.
That does not mean that it is legal to be caught there bare
assed. Park rangers, acting as federal government police, usually patrol the nude
part of Herring Cove Beach at night and in the early morning. During the day they
generally ignore the nude beach, except for possible remote surveillance looking for
sexual activity. Occasionally federal police will venture into the nude area during
the day. Word quickly spreads down the beach and most people cover up. If
federal police catch a sun worshiper uncovered, they usually give a warning and the nudist
puts something on. If they refuse to cover, they are arrested. A good article
of the way the NPS is currently handling recreational nudity at Herring Cove Beach can be
found in the last part of an article by the Provincetown Banner at: http://www.provincetownbanner.com/news/7/20/2000/3.
Sometimes there is sexual activity during the day in the dunes
behind the beach or at night near the bathhouse in the straight part of the beach.
Some locals claim that the federal police remotely monitor these areas using high power
binoculars and night surveillance scopes. If they detect sexual activity, they
arrest.
In the spring of 2001, Ptown voted to make clothing optional, a very
small strip of beach which it owns near Race Point Beach. Unfortunately, at this
time (Aug 2001), the nude status of that beach is in limbo due a legal challenge.
