Explore Woods Hole: Gateway to Martha's Vineyard

Woods Hole, the ferry port for Martha's Vineyard

Woods Hole is a village in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and the main ferry port for Martha's Vineyard . Most people only see it from the ferry line, but it's a real destination in its own right: over 300 years of history, two major research institutions, and a handful of good places to eat. If you have time before your boat, it's worth a walk around.

Filmed August 2025

From fishing village to science town

Woods Hole started as a fishing and farming community more than 300 years ago. Today it's better known for science. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) , founded in 1930, runs ocean research programs around the world, and visitors can stop into its Ocean Science Discovery Center, open mid-April through October, to see what the institution works on.

Down the street, the Marine Biological Laboratory has been doing biological research here since the late 19th century. Between the two, this small village has an outsized place in marine science.

What to see

• Nobska Point Lighthouse: A historic lighthouse on a bluff above Vineyard Sound, with a wide-open view and a quick stop.
• Woods Hole Science Aquarium: Established in 1875, the country's oldest public marine aquarium. It is closed for foundation repairs and exhibit renovations through early 2027 (call 508-495-2001 for the current status). When it reopens, admission is free and the tanks hold marine life native to the Northeast and Middle Atlantic waters.
• Woods Hole Historical Museum: Exhibits on the village's maritime past, its scientific institutions, and how the community has changed over time. The galleries open from mid-June to late September.

An hour before the boat: a walk along Water Street

Most of what there is to see in the village is on Water Street, a short walk from the terminal. Pie In The Sky is at 10 Water Street, so coffee can come first. Keep going and you reach the Eel Pond drawbridge, the small bridge that lifts to let boats in and out of the pond behind the village. Under the federal bridge rules it opens on request only on the hour and the half hour: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. from June 15 to September 15, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from mid-May to mid-June and mid-September to mid-October. From October 15 to May 14 it opens on signal from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., so on a summer day you can time your walk to catch it going up.

Just past the bridge, at 15 School Street, is the WHOI Ocean Science Discovery Center. It's small and you can see it in under an hour. The most hands-on piece is a replica of the personnel sphere of Alvin, the deep-sea research submarine, which you can climb into. Other rooms cover how WHOI found and surveyed the Titanic, the deep ocean twilight zone, and the robots its scientists use to study sharks. The 2026 hours: daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Memorial Day to Labor Day, then Wednesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. from September 8 to October 31 (closed October 30). It is closed from November to mid-April. If you drove into the village instead of using the ferry lots, the parking on Water Street is metered, with a three-hour limit.

With half a day: Nobska Light, the museum and the bike path

Nobska Light stands on the point above the village, where Vineyard Sound meets Nantucket Sound, a landmark island travelers know from the ferry. The first lighthouse here went up in 1829. The 40-foot cast iron tower you see now dates from 1876, and the fourth-order Fresnel lens installed in 1888 is still in it; the light was automated in 1985. In 2025 the Department of the Interior chose the Friends of Nobska Light, the nonprofit that has looked after the site for years, to take over the property, and the Coast Guard still has access to the light and the fog horn.

The grounds are open dawn to dusk all year. The tower is open only in season: in 2026 the Friends ran tours Tuesday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (last tour 12:15), from June 2 to October 6, plus Wednesday twilight tours from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. between June 17 and September 2. Tickets were $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and veterans and $5 for children 12 and under, bought on site, with six people per 15-minute slot and a rule that children be at least 45 inches tall. Nobska Road is narrow, a low railroad bridge means you can't drive straight through, and there's no room for buses, so a smaller car or a bike is easier.

The Woods Hole Historical Museum, founded in 1974, is at 579 Woods Hole Road next to the fieldstone library, uphill from the ferry lot on Railroad Avenue. Its galleries were open from June 13 to September 26 in 2026, Thursday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday noon to 3 p.m., and the archives are open by appointment all year.

If you have a bike, the Shining Sea Bikeway starts at the Steamship terminal and runs 10.7 miles to County Road in North Falmouth, mostly along the old railroad line. It was dedicated in 1975 and is named for Katharine Lee Bates, who was born in Falmouth and wrote “America the Beautiful.” Riding it in from the Falmouth lots is a good way to skip the shuttle, especially with an e-bike, which won't fit the shuttle racks. Our bike routes guide picks up on the island side.

Where to eat

For a village this size, Woods Hole eats well, from fresh seafood to baked goods and seasonal menus, all within a few minutes of the terminal.

• Pie In The Sky Cafe & Bakery: Good pastries and coffee in a small, comfortable room. A reliable stop for breakfast or a break while you wait.
• Water Street Kitchen: A seasonal menu built around local ingredients, the pick if you want a proper sit-down dinner.
• Landfall Restaurant: The classic choice for seafood, with fresh catches and a waterfront view.

Eating by the ferry clock

For the early boats, Pie In The Sky at 10 Water Street opens at 5 a.m. and stays open until 8 p.m., 364 days a year. It bakes everything on site and roasts its own coffee, and the breakfast sandwiches are made to order, so it's the easy answer before a 6 a.m. sailing. Landfall is at 9 Luscombe Avenue; in late October it serves lunch and dinner Thursday to Sunday from 11:30, and it closes for the season on November 29. Water Street Kitchen, at 56 Water Street, is a dinner place: its fall hours start at 5 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday. The Captain Kidd at 77 Water Street does chowder, fish and chips, lobster rolls and oysters, and sits close enough to the drawbridge to watch it go up. Hours change a lot between seasons in a village this small, so it's worth checking a place's own site before you count on it for the last boat.

The new ferry terminal

If you have not sailed from Woods Hole since spring, the terminal is new. The Steamship Authority opened its new building on June 25, 2026, a one-story, $37 million project that took 21 months to build. It is heated and cooled by 39 geothermal wells, with solar panels due in the project's final phase, part of a push toward LEED certification at the Authority's busiest port. Inside you get proper waiting space, restrooms and ticket windows; outside, the old rule still applies: there is no public parking at the terminal itself, so the off-site lots and the free shuttles are the way in.

Getting to Woods Hole

From Boston, the Peter Pan bus runs straight through to the Woods Hole ferry terminal, stopping at the Falmouth bus depot on the way. Arrive early and you can look around before catching the ferry to Martha's Vineyard .

Around the village without a car

Woods Hole is small enough to walk, and the hard part is getting there with a car. The terminal has no public parking, so walk-on passengers park in the Steamship Authority's lots in Falmouth and ride a free shuttle down; our Woods Hole ferry parking guide has the lots, the 2026 daily rates and how the shuttle works. In summer there's also the WHOOSH trolley, run by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority from late June to Labor Day: it goes from the Falmouth Mall down Route 28 and Woods Hole Road to the Steamship Authority, the fare is $2, and you can flag it down anywhere along the route.

An hour or two in the village

With an hour or two before the boat, the science, the history and the food are all worth the time. Our ferry guide has the schedules and parking.

For what is on in the village, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's website and the Woods Hole Business Association's site are good places to look.