I love Woods Hole as you can see from my other reviews. I have lived near there in the past and…read morelove to visit when I can and always learn something new there. This time it was about their new parking system which is inflicted on them by the Town of Falmouth who has the right to do it as Woods Hole is technically a village within Falmouth. Historically, Woods Hole's metered parking has been quite independent. So I blame this conversion on Falmouth, not Woods Hole. Their new parking system (digital electronic) requires inputting your license plate when you park in a legal space along Water Street as well as any of the residential and nonresidential side streets. In the past, and I mean for many decades, it was a "find a space and pay" with manual meters. You could visit and stay as long as you wished should you have plans for an early day meal and shopping and then return later in the day for another meal. No more! You can only have a paid visit with a maximum total of 3 hours in the entire day, even if the second trip is located on a different block of the town. We learned that when we tried to pay during our one day here to be in 2 segments such as I described. However, it would not allow us to pay a second time. Luckily for us it was close to 6pm which is when the pay day ends. Luckily we did not get a ticket as we had reservations at one of our special restaurants. Later, I spoke to Falmouth Parking office staff about the policy and I asked why they changed. They thought it was a better system to move people along. Even with spending hundreds of dollars in local shops that day, they did not think it should be altered for convenience of the visitor. They "suggested" that the alternative was to park over in Falmouth Heights, miles away, and find a place eat there for the second meal. I did not fly from Colorado to eat in that area, I came for Water Street eateries and shops in Woods Hole. Watch your meter and plan around this policy. Go back for a second stint if needed after 6pm. The good parts of the visit that day, in addition to shopping and eating brunch at Pie In The Sky, a longtime favorite, was investigating all of the educational displays in town for the anniversary of the first lab, WHOI. Much of it is world famous, the Alvin deep diving submarine capsule and all the shipboard research they do. The sunset over Eel Pond is classic. We did that after dinner at our favorite fresh seafood restaurant, Shuckers. We had made reservations earlier that day when we walked by on the way to the car and we saw the "2 full lobster meal" special. We also watched the ferries and research vessels arrive and depart from the docks. We noticed that another restaurant is still not open all week, just the 5 busiest days, so we missed it on this trip. And sadly one of our long time favorite eatery spaces has still not found a reliable occupant since before the pandemic. But "in the old days" it was a charming seafood place right on the water. It was a pizza place when it reopened but closed again a couple of years ago. It's still a wonderful town to visit for so many reasons. And for the first time ever, we did not see the drawbridge on Water St operate a single time.

I was unfortunately only a short time in Woods Hole. It's an interesting city, mix of both new and…read moreold. Small town feel but cutting edge. It's home to a lot of different scientific institutes including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Marine Biological Laboratory, the Woods Hole Research Center, NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (which started the Woods Hole scientific community in 1871), the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, a USGS coastal and marine geology center, and the home campus of the Sea Education Association. The views like in most towns I visited on my vacation is spectacular, another wonderful little stop in my trip thru Cape Cod.

Last summer was the best because i spent 4th july for around a week and had a blast,,…read more I crashed a family reunion and i think i had the most fun out of around 50 people,,, great for bike riding , bbq's, hanging out at the bon fire, and of course doing all this with a beer in your right hand :) and ecaping to main land is super easy with the ferry and hang out in Newport.

An island that never…read morechanges I love going to Prudence island. The little ferry from Bristol is inexpensive and just the trip itself pretty nice. For some fortunate reason the island was never really developed which is shocking considering how beautiful it is. There are some houses but I don't think many people stay there year round and any kids probably end up going to Portsmouth for school. We love to bike around the island because even in the summer the traffic is light to nonexistent. Not very many paved roads so a mountain bike is necessary but you can make it around the whole island in a few hours. It even has a cute little lighthouse that you can walk right up to. The views around the island are just spectacular and in many spots it seems you are the only people on the island. An absolutely wild and unspoiled place that always seems fresh no matter how many times we go out there. About the only negative thing about the island is that ticks also seem to enjoy it and repellent is a must. No, there's not much out there, and that is what makes it so great. There is a small store by the ferry landing to buy junk food and drinks but nothing else. That is why Prudence is so special.

Fantastic light show hosted by the Picozzi family at their home in an unassuming neighborhood in…read moreWarwick. The lights are synced in time with vintage and modern day holiday tunes. They ask for donations to the Tomorrow Fund assisting children and their families receiving care at Hasbro hospital. My children of varying ages (16-10) are in awe of the continuous firework-like display. Long wait in the single file line to reach the prime viewing spot. But you can tune into 97.1 for the sneak peeks as you approach. Just like the drive in! Use the restroom and bring smacks for the kiddos (and yourself). Great cause, great show to thaw you from the holiday bustle and spend some time with your loved ones.

This is an absolutely fabulous Christmas Light display put on by a local family on a typical…read moreproperty in the middle of Warwick. It brought our family a lot of Joy during this holiday season. Our daughter is still asking us to go every night. I absolutely love that everything out is handmade in some way. I also love that he has taken the opportunity of Attraction and turned it into a opportunity for supporting a local charity. Good fun no cost except the drive. I suggest everybody should stop by. I must also add that I can appreciate his out calling for people to be courteous of his neighbors and to turn off your lights when you are enjoying the show!

Love this little place located at the end of Post Road in Warwick. Pretty waterfront views, great…read morerestaurants, and pretty park area. Love to come and bring the dogs for a walk here.

Great little seaside village, more than quaint, fun to stroll, grab an ice cream from Dear Hearts &…read moresit in the park & watch the boats. There are usually lots of dogs out for walks. Saturday mornings there's a farmers market at the Masonic Lodge. Lots of cool little shops, Fellini's Pizza, fun tea shops, great place to stroll. Quintessential New England village, check it out.

Bridges straits and…read morelights The strait between Narragansett Bay and Mount Hope Bay is only about 600 yards wide with a couple of small islands, sand bars and rocks thrown in for interest. A dangerous place to sail through at the best of times and very interesting in foggy or bad weather. So it was recognized a long time ago that some help for mariners would be nice and a small lighthouse was built here in 1855. Only about 30 feet tall and had a small 6th order Fresnel lens that was later upgraded to a 5th order lens. The light not only helped the boats get through the strait but also assisted the Bristol Ferry than ran across the treacherous area. A very useful little lighthouse that did it's job well and prevented many accidents. Then in 1927 the hulking Mount Hope Bridge was built between Bristol and Aqidneck Island so both the ferry and the lighthouse were no longer needed. The huge bridge served as a great navigational aide, as long as the boats didn't run into it or course. The lighthouse remained but since it isn't easy to see from land it was forgotten and slowly fell into a rather sorry condition. Paint was chipping off and it definitely needed so TLC. Fortunately some great new owners spent time restoring the lighthouse to it's former cute little self and now sits proudly under the huge bridge. It's private and never open to the public but good views can be seen from the water or by the landing under the bridge. This is a residential house so don't get too close and respect their privacy. The combination of the looming bridge, cool straits and lovely little lighthouse makes for a very special place indeed.

The oldest of…read morethe old King Philip's War was a nasty affair with atrocities and lots of horrible things occurring on both the Native American and English sides. Towns were burned and people murdered. No quarter was asked and none was given. One particularly brutal incident was called Nine Men's Misery. It started on March 20, 1676, when Capt Piece of the colonists let a group of troops after what was left of the Narragansett Tribe. The troops got a bit too over confident and walked right into an ambush and were slaughtered by the Narragansetts. Virtually all of the troops were killed but nine managed to survive the battle and were captured, tortured and then killed. Not exactly unexpected considering what the English were doing to the Narragansetts. Most of their villages were burned and the women and children executed . When other English troops found the bodies of the dead captives. they immediately buried the bodies and put up a monument site of rocks over the graves so the memory of the incident would never be forgotten. The pile of rocks have been tended to ever since and is now considered the oldest veterans memorial in the country. It's not exactly an exciting or aesthetically stunning memorial but it an extremely spooky and fascinating place to hike out and actually find. The area has lots of cool hiking trails besides the one leading to the memorial but the bugs are incredibly bad in these woods. Lovely stone walls and beautiful trees, this would probably be a great place for a winter or fall hike. A thoughtful place to reflect and remember what it was like back then during these horrible wars. Right and wrong, good and evil are just words. Pain, death and suffering was the reality.

This place holds a special place in my heart. My father and I used to walk here when I was young.read more

I love Jamestown. Its very quaint with limited eateries and stores but the scenery makes up for it…read more A must stop coming from or going to Newport.

I love Jamestown! Ok, so I only spent a total of about 2 hours here. But, I had two great meals…read moreand got to walk a few blocks on the main street. Hopefully I will be back to explore soon!

New Bedford is the "whaling capital of the world" but this is a different sea creature - it's a sea…read moreurchin and it's standing just behind the court house and Social Security Administration building. The Sea Flower was created by artist James Surls and installed in 1978. It is a striking sculpture and people either love it or hate it. It's abstract and it's odd and it's been in danger of removal multiple times, as recently as when Mayor John Bullard tried to remove it in 1986. The elderly and the blind kept whacking their heads on the sculpture, necessitating the addition of a beam. A newspaper survey revealed that 86 percent of respondents hated it. I thought it was interesting but then, most abstract art goes over my head. [Review 18634 overall - 1214 in Massachusetts - 2156 of 2022.]