PROVINCETOWN, Mass., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- A Cape Cod, Mass., town kicked off a campaign to raise cash to celebrate its Pilgrim Monument's 100-year anniversary, an official said.
The residents of Provincetown, Mass., are a bit irked that most people do not know their town was actually the first landing place -- before Plymouth in 1620 -- of the Pilgrims, The Boston Globe reported Sunday.
The town is taking advantage of the celebration of the 252-foot granite tower's anniversary in August 2010 to tout its historical importance. The slogan for the anniversary is, "Support America's history: It all started here.''
"Important things happened here, and we should remember that. Provincetown has always gotten short shrift. It still does,'' said Laurel Guadazno, Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum's education and program manager.
"I was kind of amazed. It wasn't Plymouth Rock, it was actually Provincetown,'' he said. "What's all the big hoopla about Plymouth if it was Provincetown? I don't blame the people here for being a little ticked off, said Don St. Onge, a tourist from Hudson, N.Y.
The Pilgrims lacked a reliable fresh water source on Cape Cod, were frightened by their hostile encounter with the Native Americans and felt they couldn't farm the sandy soil there, and so left for the place they would call Plymouth, said Peg Baker, director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth.
