ADULTS ONLY: ‘The Wild West of the East’

A new, first-ever adults-only Provincetown, Mass. tour featuringhistory not taught in schools promises to become this summer’s number one tourist attraction in one of America’s top vacation destinations.

Musician, actor and writer Billy Hough, who has been credited with keeping absurdist theater alive, will lead small groups on an exciting and surprising tour of Bohemian Provincetown called ‘The Wild West of the East,’ walking to spots where stuff went down with noted luminaries ever since the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

The tour includes stops by the Atlantic House Bar, where Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill was arrested at gunpoint. Among other little-known P’town historical tidbits: Participants will learn how Divine, John Waters’ leading lady, caused so much trouble that locals wanted her banned from Provincetown; madness that ensued when Andy Warhol brought Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground to town for a show; Sylvia Plath and Anis Nin participated in some ‘bad’ behavior, as did Tennessee Williams (shown in photo with Frank Merlo), Anthony Bourdain, Jack Kerouac, and many more.

This tour is one of several organized by Ann Wood of Outer Cape Tours & Concierge Services (www.OuterCapeTours.com) which offers free tour packages to guests of three local hotels: Breakwater Hotel, Cape Colony Inn, and Truro Beach Cottages, all part of The Lexvest Group. Tours are also available to the public which can purchase tickets online for $20 per person.

Other Outer Cape Tours led by local experts are: ‘Railway to a Unique Ecosystem: Nature in Action’; ‘Pirates & Witches’; ‘Walk the Dunes’; ‘Bay Creatures Great & Small’  and ‘Beech Forest, A Hike through Dunes, Ponds and Woodlands.’  

“ADULTS ONLY: Wild West of the East,” previews at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23, and will run at 6 p.m. every Thursday, starting July 1. Interested persons may register at www.OuterCapeTours.com. For more info, contact Ann Wood, Outer Cape Tours & Concierge director, via email ann@outercapetours.com or phone 508-413-3443.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             – By Stan Hurwitz  /  stanhurwitz@gmail.com   6/21