Wicked Local
The Provincetown Select Board has decided to seek advice from a consultant on a proposal from the Wampanoag Advisory Committee to rename Race Point to Meeshaun Point.
The renaming idea arose with a March 6 letter from the Wampanoag Advisory Committee to the Select Board. The letter asked for the board’s support for the committee’s effort to honor the original tribal village of the region.
Race Point is a section of the town’s coastline near the town airport, and owned by the Cape Cod National Seashore. The name itself references tidal race meaning, strong currents that challenge mariners navigating their way around the Cape tip, according to William Burke, a historian at the Seashore. The name “Race Point” dates to at least 1816, when the land was either state or federally owned, Burke said.