The Shining Sea Bikeway is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

in Falmouth,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The path runs for from the Steamship Authority ferry terminal in

Woods Hole Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...

to North Falmouth.

History

The trail was built on the right-of-way of the

Old Colony Railroad The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, ...

's Woods Hole branch line, which was built in 1872. In 1893, the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

(NH) leased the Old Colony and took over service on the line. Passenger service was discontinued in 1964, the NH merged with the

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

system in 1969, and Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970. The creation of the trail began in 1977, when the Town of Falmouth purchased the section of the bankrupt line running from downtown Falmouth to Woods Hole for $329,000. In 2009, the trail was extended an additional from downtown Falmouth to North Falmouth. Freight service on this section ceased in 1989. While the Woods Hole-Falmouth section of former railroad is owned by the Town of Falmouth, the Falmouth-North Falmouth section is owned by the

Massachusetts Department of Transportation The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Session of t ...

and is not officially abandoned. The name of the trail is a reference to the patriotic song "

America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two never m ...

". The author of the song's lyrics,

Katherine Lee Bates Katharine Lee Bates (August 12, 1859 – March 28, 1929) was an American author and poet, chiefly remembered for her anthem "America the Beautiful", but also for her many books and articles on social reform, on which she was a noted speaker. Bat ...

, was born in Falmouth, and there is a plaque commemorating her poem near mile marker 2. The Bourne Rail Trail is a planned rail trail paralleling the active rail line from North Falmouth to Bourne, where it will connect with the

Cape Cod Canal The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The approximately canal traverses the neck o ...

path. In 2019 and 2020, the state awarded $385,000 for design of the first two phases. An additional $499,000 was awarded in 2022.

Route description

The Shining Sea Bikeway's northern trailhead is at the former site of the North Falmouth Railroad Station on County Road in North Falmouth. For the first , the path runs adjacent to active track used to haul trash off-Cape from the Upper Cape Regional Transfer Station on

Joint Base Cape Cod The Joint Base Cape Cod is a state-designated joint base created by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States War Department in 1935. Governor James Curley signed the state bill to allocate and purchase land for a military facilit ...

. The path runs south roughly parallel to Route 28A through the villages of North Falmouth and West Falmouth. Between North and West Falmouth, it passes through a

cranberry bog Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...

and crosses the horse trails at Bourne Farm. In West Falmouth, it passes near Chapoquoit Beach and then runs through the Sippewissett Salt Marsh. After the

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

, the path turns southeast and climbs slightly into the village of Sippewissett and then turns southwest and enters downtown Falmouth. At this point, there is a connection across Route 28A to the southern end of the Moraine Trail, including Goodwill Park, Grew's Pond, and Falmouth Pumping Station.https://www.savebuzzardsbay.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/map_shining-sea-bikeway.pdf In Falmouth, the path runs through a Steamship Authority parking lot and passes the former Falmouth Railroad Station, which is used as a

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is l ...

. At Woods Hole Road, the path reaches its downtown parking lot, which was its northernmost trailhead until the 2009 extension. It then crosses Woods Hole Road and continues southwest past Salt Pond to Surf Drive Beach. At Surf Drive, the path follows the beach for and then heads inland. Turning east, it passes through another Steamship Authority parking lot and ends at the Steamship Authority ferry terminal and the former site of the Woods Hole Railroad Station in the village of Woods Hole.

References

External links

Bikeways Committee, Town of Falmouth

Friends of Falmouth Bikeways
{{Attached KML, display=inline, title Rail trails in Massachusetts Parks in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Falmouth, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Barnstable County, Massachusetts

History

Route description

See also

References

Further reading

External links