Conservation Lands
Shining Sea Bikeway
A resident once described the Shining Sea Bikeway as a linear park. The 3.1-mile route from Locust Street to the Steamship Authority terminal in Woods Hole is used by residents and visitors of all ages throughout the year.
The bike path follows the line of the former Penn Central Railroad, which discontinued service between Falmouth and Woods Hole in 1957. Named in honor of Katharine Lee Bates, author of America the Beautiful (“...from sea to shining sea...”), who spent her childhood in Falmouth, the bike path was opened in 1976.
Twenty-two years later, the bikeway was extended from Locust Street to Skating Lane, where the Steamship Authority has an off-site parking lot, and more recently it was extended to Carlson Lane in Sippewissett. Cycling proponents successfully petitioned town meeting to seek a lease with the state of the railroad right of way to North Falmouth. After extensive debate on whether the path should run on the railroad bed or alongside it, the state signed the lease. Federal funds have been appropriated for the project, and work is expected to begin in 2007. This will extend the bike path another seven miles.
The Shining Sea Bikeway is the only bike path on Cape Cod that runs along the shore, providing many sweeping views of Vineyard Sound. Following ancient Wampanoag trails, the bikeway takes the visitor alongside woodlands, marshes and ponds. When the bike path extension to the north is completed, it will run alongside the Great Sippewissett Marsh with extensive views of Buzzards Bay to the west.
The bike path connects to Goodwill Park across Palmer Avenue, Beebe Woods and the bus station at Depot Avenue, and the Steamship Authority in Woods Hole and it is a short distance from Main Street. It provides good access to the village of Woods Hole, where parking and traffic congestion, especially in the summer months, make biking and walking the preferred mode of transportation.
Parking is available at Locust Street across from Mill Road, and at Trunk River, an unmarked dirt driveway off Oyster Pond Road just beyond Surf Drive. Both of these lots fill up quickly in the summer, especially on weekends. Ample parking is also available in the town lot at the end of Depot Avenue, across from the bus station. There is limited meter parking in Woods Hole off Railroad Avenue.
A portable toilet is available at the Locust Street parking lot in the summer season, as is a water fountain. Benches, picnic tables and bike racks are also distributed along the bikeway.
The path is relatively flat and an easy trip for all ages.
