Truro, Massachusetts |
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Truro is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusett. 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 comprises two villages: Truro and North Truro.
Over half of the land area of the town is comprised of the Cape Cod National Seashore, established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, and part of the U.S. National Park Service.
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.
The old town cemetery was the location of the 1969 murders of Susan Perry, Patricia Walsh, Sydney Monzon and Mary Anna Wysocki committed by Tony Costa.
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.