Woods Hole station was a station on the Old Colony Railroad located in the village of

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 ...

in the town of

Falmouth, Massachusetts Falmouth ( ) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 32,517 at the 2020 census, making Falmouth the second-largest municipality on Cape Cod after Barnstable. The terminal for the Steamship Authority ferri ...

. It served as the terminus for the railroad's branch line to Woods Hole and offered ferry connections to

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...

and

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

History

The original wooden station was built at the end of the Woods Hole Branch of the Old Colony Railroad in 1872. The Woods Hole Branch opened on July 17, 1872. The station was located close to docks where passengers could board ferries to

and

, so it served as a transfer station for vacationers traveling to the islands. In 1893, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad leased the Old Colony Railroad and took over operations on the line. In 1899, the station building was replaced by a brick structure. Into the early 1960s the New Haven operated daily trains to Boston and seasonal trains such as the day and night versions of the '' Cape Codder'' to New York City. In 1964, passenger rail service to Woods Hole ceased, and the station closed. The tracks were torn up in 1969, and the station building was demolished in 1970. In 1977, work began on the Shining Sea Bikeway, 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 ...

on the Woods Hole branch line's right-of-way, and its southern trailhead is located on the site of the former Woods Hole station. Ferries continue to service the nearby docks, and the

Steamship Authority The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, doing business as The Steamship Authority (''SSA''), is the statutory regulatory body for all ferry operations between mainland Massachusetts and The Islands (Massachusetts), the ...

uses the former rail yard as a parking lot.

References

External links

Falmouth, Massachusetts Railway stations in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Former railway stations in Massachusetts 1872 establishments in Massachusetts 1964 disestablishments in Massachusetts Former Old Colony Railroad stations {{Massachusetts-railstation-stub