Truro, Massachusetts
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| Truro, Massachusetts | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | United States | ||
| State | Massachusetts | ||
| County | Barnstable | ||
| Settled | 1700 | ||
| Incorporated | 1709 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Type | Open town meeting | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 26.3 sq mi (68.2 km²) | ||
| - Land | 21.1 sq mi (54.5 km²) | ||
| - Water | 5.3 sq mi (13.6 km²) | ||
| Elevation | 25 ft (8 m) | ||
| Population (2000) | |||
| - Total | 2,087 | ||
| - Density | 99.1/sq mi (38.3/km²) | ||
| Time zone | Eastern (UTC-5) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | Eastern (UTC-4) | ||
| ZIP code | 02666 | ||
| Area code(s) | 508 / 774 | ||
| FIPS code | 25-70605 | ||
| GNIS feature ID | 0618260 | ||
| Website: http://www.truro-ma.gov/ | |||
Truro is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Located two hours outside Boston, it is a summer vacation community just shy of the tip of Cape Cod. It is named after Truro in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Its name among the natives of Cape Cod was Pamet or Payomet, a name that still refers to an area around the town center known as the Pamet Roads. The population was 2,087 at the 2000 census. Truro is comprised of two villages: Truro and North Truro.
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[edit] History
The Pilgrims stopped in Truro and Provincetown in 1620 as their original choice for a landing before later declaring the area unsuitable. While there, they discovered fresh water and corn stored by the Native Americans. The accuracy of the latter discovery, on what is now known as Corn Hill, remains disputed.
Truro was settled by Europeans in 1700 as the northernmost portion of the town of Eastham. The town was officially separated and incorporated in 1709. Fishing, whaling and shipbuilding made up the town's early industry; these industries died off, however, as the harsh tides of the Lower Cape began decimating the town's main port in the 1850s. Today, Truro is one of the more exclusive towns on the Cape, noted for its affluent residences and the rolling hills and dunes along the coast.
Truro is the site of the Cape Cod Highland Lighthouse (also known as the Cape Cod Light), the first lighthouse on Cape Cod. The first building was erected in 1797; the current lighthouse was built in 1857. The entire 430-ton light was moved about 1/10 of a mile inland in 1996, its original perch just ten yards from the edge of the shore cliffs.[1]
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 26.3 square miles (68.2 km²), of which, 21.0 square miles (54.5 km²) of it is land and 5.3 square miles (13.6 km²) of it (20.02%) is water. Truro is located just south and east of the "tip" of Cape Cod, and is bordered by Provincetown to the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east, Wellfleet to the south, and Cape Cod Bay to the west. The town is thirty-eight miles by road to Barnstable, fifty miles from the Sagamore Bridge and 105 miles by road from Boston.
The topography generally slopes downward from the Atlantic to Cape Cod Bay sides, and from south to north. There are several small ponds throughout town, all of which combined are smaller than the Pilgrim Lake, just east of the Provincetown town line, and just south of the sand dunes which make up most of the northern tip of the Cape. Pamet Harbor, a small inlet, is in the southern half of the town on the Cape Cod Bay side, and leads to the Pamet River. Just south of the lighthouse is a Coast Guard radar station, equipped with a doppler satellite tower (which contrasts awkwardly with the neighboring stone Jenny Lind Tower).
[edit] Transportation
U.S. Route 6 is the main route through town, passing through the town from south to north on its way to Provincetown. The "second" portion of the Cape's Route 6A begins in the town, tracing the road's original path, and passing into Provincetown barely 250 feet south of the main route. There is no rail or air service in the town; the nearest regional airport is located in neighboring Provincetown. The nearest national and international air service can be found at Logan International Airport in Boston.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 2,087 people, 907 households, and 515 families residing in the town. The population density was 99.1 people per square mile (38.3/km²). There were 2,551 housing units at an average density of 121.2/sq mi (46.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 95.11% White, 1.87% African American, 0.43% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 0.77% from other races, and 1.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.15% of the population.
There were 907 households out of which 21.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.2% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.76.
In the town the population was spread out with 17.4% under the age of 18, 4.1% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 34.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $42,981, and the median income for a family was $51,389. Males had a median income of $37,208 versus $30,435 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,608. About 4.8% of families and 11.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.5% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Opposition to development
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Like most small incorporated communities in New England, Truro uses an open town meeting form of government. Through town meeting, in addition to the town's planning board and the Cape Cod Commission, some of Truro's residents have made considerable (and often successful) efforts to prevent development projects they perceive as threatening the town's rural charm, such as a proposed Stop & Shop grocery store and the WTUR/WCDJ/WGTX communication tower, the latter of which was finally built in 2007, almost 20 years after the station was first licensed.
[edit] Government
Truro is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a part of the Fourth Barnstable district, which includes (with the exception of Brewster) all the towns east and north of Harwich on the Cape. The town is represented in the Massachusetts Senate as a part of the Cape and Islands District, which includes all of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket except the towns of Bourne, Falmouth, Sandwich and a portion of Barnstable.[3] Truro is patrolled by the Second (Yarmouth) Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police.[4]
On the national level, Truro is a part of Massachusetts's 10th congressional district, and is currently represented by Bill Delahunt. The state's senior (Class I) member of the United States Senate, re-elected in 2006, is Ted Kennedy. The junior (Class II) Senator, up for re-election in 2008, is John Kerry.
Truro is governed by the open town meeting form of government, and is led by a town administrator and a board of selectmen. The town has its own police and fire departments, headquartered on Route 6 just south of the Route 6A split. The town has two post offices (one for Truro proper (02666), located on Truro Center Road, and one for the village of North Truro (02652), located on Shore Road (MA Route 6A)), and the town's Truro Public Library is located between the two routes in a secluded spot, lending to the slogan "The Library In The Woods."
[edit] Education
Truro operates the Truro Central School for students from kindergarten through sixth grade. The town does not have its own middle or high school; a tuition agreement is in place with the town and the Provincetown and Nauset Regional school districts. There are no private schools anywhere on the lower Cape; high school students additionally have the option of attending the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich free of charge.
[edit] Truro in Film
Truro, Massachusetts was depicted in Men in Black II (2002), having been the town in which Tommy Lee Jones' character "Agent K" retired from the "Men in Black" organization to become a postal worker. The post office was portrayed as being a solitary building in the middle of nowhere, but in reality, Truro's post office is right in the heart of downtown Truro, which is also home to a small convenience store and a few shops. Also, when the first film in the Men In Black series displayed Truro on a satellite map, the map zoomed in on Falmouth, a town on the opposite end of Cape Cod.
[edit] References
- ^ (2004) Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Street Atlas. Arrow Maps Inc., pp86.
- ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ Index of Legislative Representation by City and Town, from Mass.gov
- ^ Station D-2, SP Yarmouth
[edit] External links
- Town of Truro official website
- Truro Chamber of Commerce tourist information
- History of Truro
- The Pilgrims' Landing
- Children's Literature set in Truro
- The Provincetown Banner
- Truro (Massachusetts) travel guide from Wikitravel
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