Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown, MA. A gay nudist / cruising beach on Cape Cod.
My first time to Herring Cove Beach was in 2016. I was in Provincetown, MA for a weeklong painting workshop. Our instructor sent us out to spend our first day writing a short narrative nonfiction piece, which was to be a launching pad for our painting projects for the rest of the week. I wanted to write outside, and I wanted to do it somewhere along the ocean.
I was curious if there were nude beaches and searched online. I liked the idea of being naked smoking a joint at the beach, and figured it would be an ideal place to write.
I found instructions on a gay travel forum to a gay nudist beach- the instructions told me I was to bike to the edge of town and look out for bikes parked along the marshlands, and then follow the line of people crossing the dunes and marshes out to Herring Cove.
It was easy to spot the start of the trail- there were so many bikes locked up along a stretch of fence, on a road that was otherwise empty. I locked my bike up, and entered the trail. There was a dotted line of men walking out to the beach. It appeared to be a relatively long hike to get out, and the sun was beating down. I followed the dotted line of men.
High tide was coming in as I crossed the marshlands, beginning as a light trickling, and crescendoing to a loud gurgling sound as water sloshed around the edges of dunes, filling footpaths and rising around first my ankles- then up to my knees. I noticed people starting to lift their belongings up above their heads as they crossed the final stretch of the bay. I adjusted my bags and lifted them as I plunged into the deeper water. High tide was still coming in, and pulled me back in the direction I’d come from. I slowly marched against the current, until I was approaching a row of dunes.
The men in front of me were mostly crossing over the dunes, but some lingered among the back side along the bay. Men were perched among the dunes in varying interlocking configurations- along the beach side of the dunes, hundreds of men were laid out naked. The remoteness of the location- and specifically being surrounded by the waters of Provincetown Harbor- create an environment where this space is possible.
Dylan Hurwitz • he/him • Brooklyn, NY
Dylan Hurwitz is based out of Brooklyn, NY. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at EDJI (Brussels), Galerie Fuchs (Stuttgart), Auxier Kline (New York), the Cabin LA (Los Angeles), and Freight+Volume (New York). He’s been in group shows in Germany at Galerie Fuchs (Stuttgart), and in New York at Nino Mier, Room57, Monya Rowe Gallery, Zürcher Gallery, Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, National Arts Club, and Danese Corey. Residencies include the Mooseyart Residency (Norwich, UK), The La Brea Studio Residency/The Cabin LA (Los Angeles), Takt Residency (Berlin) and DNA Residency (Provincetown, MA). Hurwitz received his MFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Tufts University.
