Helltown: an urban legend unmasked

Stephan Cohen presents a deep dive into the fabled Portuguese fishing settlement at Herring Cove.

Provincetown resident Stephan Cohen will present his yearslong research on the historic Helltown Settlement at Herring Cove on Tuesday, October 15 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm at the Provincetown Library. Free and open to the public.

Helltown, a cobbled-together winter shantytown of Portuguese dorymen’s huts at Herring Cove in the late 1800s, was a far cry from the tidy fishing village founded on Long Point in 1818. Those houses were floated to Provincetown in 1858 and eventually adorned with blue plaques. The Helltown shacks were far less elaborate.

The dorymen of Helltown arose before sunrise to trek miles of frozen trails to Herring Cove. They warmed up around crackling stoves, donned oilcloths and woolen mittens, and at times braved nor’easters and gales to fish for cod and haddock. They eventually moved into their rustic shacks, sleeping on makeshift beds. After hours at sea, they loaded their catch onto horse-drawn carts driven by Irish and Portuguese teamsters. The fish were packed on ice in Provincetown and delivered by train to Boston and New York. Helltown was well known; a Boston Globe headline from 1896 read, “Caught in the Gale: Fishermen All Reached Home, But Only After a Great Struggle.” Join us to explore the history and legends of Helltown and its courageous dorymen.