This sweet cottage and a nearby garage are vestiges of what was once a much larger parcel, with a main house at 28 Commercial. The property can be traced back to 1862, when Joshua Paine conveyed it to Walter Abbot (also spelled Abbott). At the age of 29, Abbot was lost at sea. The property passed to his widow, Achsah (Snow) Abbot, and in time to their only child, Rosetta “Etta” Abbot, who lived until the early 1950s. Roger Hanzes (pictured) and Lloyd Salt II bought the property in 1983 and operated it as Westwinds on Gull Hill. In 2001, after 18 years in the hospitality business, Hanzes split off the Commercial Street lot and moved into 21 Point as his own cozy home. Quiet, verdant Point Street also offers a very nice home for red foxes — though they seem to have made themselves comfortable just about everywhere in recent years.
More than 2,000 buildings and vessels are searchable on buildingprovincetown.com. The Building Provincetown book is available for purchase ($20) at Town Hall, Office of the Town Clerk, 260 Commercial Street, Provincetown 02657.