Most nudists not engaged in sexual activity walk away with a warning or a $75 citation, Thatcher says, but that decision is made on a case-by-case basis by the patrolling ranger. Last year, they handed out about 80 violations for both nudity and sexual activity altogether, Thatcher says.īoth offenses fall into a category of petty misdemeanors that can be punishable by a verbal warning, fine, court appearance or arrest. The rangers partnered with the Provincetown town manager and chief of police in 2008 to address the rising number of complaints about sexual activity in the park. “The complaints we get are, ‘How dare you let this happen in the park!’ They are usually outraged when they come across something like that and they want follow-up.”
“From the impact on the visitor experience, it’s one thing if they come across a topless sunbather, but it’s far more impactful when they come across someone engaged in sexual activity,” Thatcher says. He likens it to dogs off their leashes and open alcohol containers, but notes an important distinction between mere nudity and the much greater concern over sexual activity. Thatcher acknowledges that policing nudity is not one of the park’s highest priorities. Wellfleet or Eastham, meanwhile, are virtually complaint-free. The areas that receive the most attention are largely determined by visitor complaints, says Thatcher, and mainly include “problem areas” in Provincetown and Truro. “It is a federal regulation in effect on the Cape Cod National Seashore and we enforce it,” says Craig Thatcher, acting chief ranger.Ī total of 13 rangers take turns patrolling the park’s beaches and dunes by foot, vehicle and vessel. It’s what people should do.”ĭespite growing sentiment in favor of nudity and a unanimous vote at a Provincetown Town Meeting in 1996 requesting a “Clothing Optional Area” at Herring Cove, the park rangers’ office has not budged on its enforcement of the regulation.
“I have four words that I feel about nudism – wholesome, honest, natural and normal. “Anyone who has gone skinny dipping knows it’s a completely different experience than swimming with clothes on. Ryan Spaulding, a nudist who has been going to Herring Cove Beach since 2002, said it’s a Cape Cod tradition and a way of life. In order to reach these tucked-away places, nudists and the gawkers that followed them trampled over fragile dune vegetation and parked on private property.
Like many controversial things, its heyday was ultimately responsible for its decline.Ī federal regulation was passed prohibiting nudity in the park after a New York Times article exposed Truro as a nude beach hot spot in the early ’70s and thousands of visitors thronged to secluded corners of the Seashore to sunbathe in the buff. Nude sunbathing has been illegal on Cape Cod National Seashore since 1975, making it one of only two national seashore parks in the country to specifically prohibit the practice.
Over the years, nude sunbathers have quietly – and not so quietly – claimed some of the park’s more secluded beaches in Provincetown and Truro while maintaining a precarious coexistence with the park rangers who dole out $75 citations, or worse, to anyone they catch. For plenty of people around here, “put on a swimsuit” are fighting words, and Cape Cod National Seashore has been the battleground for baring it all for more than half of its 50-year history.
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