The Pilgrims first stepped ashore not at Plymouth Rock but in what is now Provincetown, Mass., at the sandy tip of Cape Cod. But after just five weeks, they found the location inhospitable and pulled up anchor.
It was perhaps the last time anyone found Provincetown unwelcoming.
The town now has about 3,300 full-time residents, including many L.G.B.T.Q. people drawn by art, theater and acceptance in the midst of dunes, beaches and forests.
The actor Murray Bartlett and his partner, after years of visiting, have been among them since 2018. “Once we spent time there and realized it wasn’t just a place to visit in the summer, that it just is this kind of wonderland, we were hooked,” Mr. Bartlett said in a video interview.