Tracks of the Old Colony Railroad, superimposed in yellow on an Apple Map photograph. The highlighted arc is the route of Harry Kemp Way.
Updated on 17 January 2026 | Harry Kemp Way begins at Conwell Street and heads for almost a half mile in a gentle northeasterly arc until it meets Howland Street. Its location, shape, and unusual breadth owe themselves to the fact that it follows the right-of-way of the Old Colony (later New Haven) Railroad.
When it came time in 1969 to christen the new road that replaced the rails, Marion “Rocky” Taves proposed honoring Harry Kemp (1883-1960), the Poet of the Dunes. Townspeople adopted the proposal.1 For much of his time in Provincetown, Kemp lived on the Back Shore in a tiny shed (later designated Dune Shack 9). He died in a cottage that had been specially built for him on Tasha Hill.
1 “South Wind,” by Heaton Vorse, Provincetown Advocate, 6 November 1969.