Things To Do in Falmouth and Woods Hole
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Falmouth and Woods Hole Attractions
Festivals in Falmouth
Popular fall festivals in Falmouth are Pumpkin Day and the Cranberry and Farm Festival. Pumpkin Day is held on the Bourne Farm, a 40-acre historic farm in West Falmouth. There are crafts, food, and games for children, and pumpkin picking. The Cranberry and Farm Festival takes place on town-owned bogs on John Parker Road. Events include cranberry harvesting demonstrations, cranberry baked goods and crafts sale, and games for children. For more information, call the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce at tel. 508/548-8500.
In the spring, Daffodil Days takes place in late April at the 6-acre Spohr Gardens on Fells Road. (To get there, take Woods Hole Rd. to the lights at Oyster Pond. Take a left at the lights and travel one-quarter mile to Fells Rd. The gardens are a block down on the right, at the edge of Oyster Pond.) The gardens, which feature a number of large antique anchors, are planted with thousands of daffodils. For more information, call tel. 508/548-0623.
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Falmouth Museums on the Green
Across the street from the Village Green, where Colonial militia used to train, stand these historically focused museums. The two main museum buildings, inside 18th-century houses, display period furniture, fine art, textiles, and temporary exhibits. The 1790 Dr. Francis Wicks House… - Museum
Woods Hole Historical Museum
The Woods Hole Museum is a small lively museum that celebrates this fishing village’s unique history. The main building, the Bradley House, contains a diorama of the village; revolving exhibits focus on local history, such as old Woods Hole businesses or the Woods Hole Science… - Museum
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Ocean Science Exhibit Center
The high point at this small visitor’s center is a climb aboard a life-size replica of the DSV Alvin, the deep-submergence vehicle that discovered the Titanic. But there are a range of other interactive exhibits here that will intrigue children and their parents, including a computer… - Aquarium
Woods Hole Science Aquarium
The country’s oldest marine aquarium, having been established in 1885, makes for a nice little 45-minute visit. Young children will particularly appreciate its charms. Time your visit to coincide with feeding time for the two seals in a special pool out in front of the museum. Their…
Falmouth and Woods Hole Shopping
Falmouth's spiffy Main Street has a number of stores selling good clothing, home goods, and gifts. There are also several good arts and crafts galleries in West Falmouth and Woods Hole.
Books
Eight Cousins Children's Books, 189 Main St., Falmouth (tel. 508/548-5548), specializes in books for children and young adults but also sells books for adults, as well as games, and toys for kids.
Fashion
Don't be too intimidated to browse in Maxwell & Co., 200 Main St. (in the center of town), Falmouth (tel. 508/540-8752), which may be the highest-end clothier on the Cape. Comfortable Italian fashions for men and women are displayed here in an elegant setting. Its end-of-summer sale in mid-August offers up to 70% off the prices of these exquisite goods. The clothing at Caline for Kids, 149 Main St. (tel. 508/548-2533), ranges from practical to elegant, and sometimes manages to be both. Sizes from newborn to 14 are available.
Food & Wine
"Pick your own” is the watchword at the long-established Tony Andrews Farm and Produce Stand, 394 Old Meeting House Rd. (about 1 1/2 miles north of Route 28), East Falmouth (tel. 508/548-4717), where its strawberries early in the summer and tomatoes, sweet corn, squash, sunflowers, and more as the season progresses. Of course, you can just buy them here without picking, though the Puritans wouldn’t have approved. It’s open daily 10am to 6pm. Also in East Falmouth, Coonamessett Farm (tel. 508/563-2560), at 277 Hatchville Rd. (about 1 mile east of Sandwich Rd.), runs a full farm stand of vegetables grown in the fields out back. You can pick your own vegetables, look at the farm animals (including two cute llamas), or rent a canoe for a quick paddle in the on-site pond.
Spa
Bellezza Day Spa, 221 Main St. (tel. 508/299-8300; www.spabellezza.com), is perhaps the most luxurious beauty shop on Cape Cod. Set in a high-ceilinged storefront on Falmouth's Main Street, the spa offers all manner of facials, waxings, massages, manicures, haircuts, and other services.
Falmouth and Woods Hole Nightlife
From late June through August, top talent from college drama departments across the country performs with the College Light Opera Company (tel. 508/548-0668), which puts on a fast-paced summer repertory at the Highfield Theatre, east of the Falmouth village green at 56 Highfield Ave. The venue, a former horse barn, has been a terrific summer-stock theater for the past half-century. Shows often sell out, so call well ahead or keep your fingers crossed for a scattering of single tickets. Tickets cost about $30 per person. The rest of the year, Falmouth Theatre Guild performs on the Highfield Theater stage, offering family-friendly musicals and comedies. Tickets cost about $20 per person.
The Woods Hole Folk Music Society (tel. 508/540-0320) mounts concerts October through May, on the first and third Sunday of each month, attracting a grassroots crowd to Community Hall on Water Street, by the Eel Pond drawbridge. General admission is $8; discounts are available for members, seniors, and children.
Falmouth gets most of the nightlife action on the Upper Cape. One exception is near Otis Air Force Base in Cataumet, near Bourne: On weekends, local bands and DJs draw a crowd of young adults to the Courtyard Restaurant and Pub, 1337 County Rd. (tel. 508/563-1818).
In downtown Falmouth, everyone heads to Liam Maguire’s Irish Pub, at 273 Main St. (tel. 508/548-0285), for a taste of the Emerald Isle. Live music is performed on weekends year-round, often by Liam himself; there’s no cover charge. Grumpy’s Pub, at 29 Locust St. (tel. 508/540-3930), is a good old bar/shack with live music (rock, blues, and jazz) Thursday to Saturday nights. Cover is typically $5. Look for free passes on the counter at Coffee Obsession (110 Palmer Ave.) nearby.
Out by Falmouth Heights Beach, grab a stool at the British Beer Company, 263 Grand Ave. (tel. 508/540-9600), and choose from a revolving selection of more than 18 drafts from the British Isles as you ponder views of the beach across the street. In Woods Hole, who knows whom you’ll meet in the Captain Kidd Bar, 77 Water St. (tel. 508/548-9206): maybe a lobsterwoman, maybe a Nobel Prize winner. Good grub, too.
