Massachusetts’ Shining Sea Bikeway: January 2026 Trail of the Month
Stretching from Woods Hole to North Falmouth, Cape Cod’s Shining Sea Bikeway offers an uninterrupted view of some of Massachusetts’ most iconic coastal landscapes, where water, sky and land meet to exemplify “America the Beautiful.” (The bikeway is named in honor of Katharine Lee Bates, a Falmouth native who wrote the poem that became the lyrics of the well-known patriotic anthem.)
The Shining Sea Bikeway, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, exemplifies community persistence, local leadership and a belief that public spaces should connect people to place and possibility. Built along a former rail corridor, the trail opened in stages beginning in the 1970s, transforming the abandoned New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad line into what is now 10.7 miles of welcoming, accessible pathway connecting people of all ages and abilities with Cape Cod’s beaches, harbors, forests, bogs and salt marshes.
“People come here from all over the world. The bikeway is the best way to explore the area.”
—Erik Gura, general manager of Pie in the Sky Bakery and Café
For Katherine Jansen, chair of the Falmouth Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, the bikeway reflects decades of thoughtful planning rooted in public benefit. “This is a trail that belongs to the community,” she said. “It supports daily life here. Sometimes people focus only on the recreational use of trails, but people use the bikeway to get downtown or to school or work. That’s what I love.”
That sense of shared ownership runs deep, shaped by advocates who saw the potential of the corridor early in the national rail-trails movement.
About the Trail
In coastal Massachusetts, the Shining Sea Bikeway stretches from Woods Hole to North Falmouth offering 10.7 miles of paved, accessible pathway connecting people of all ages and abilities with Cape Cod’s beaches, harbors, forests, bogs and salt marshes.
A Corridor Reimagined
On April 2, 1969, Falmouth residents Joan Kanwisher and Barbara Burwell thought they had secured the town’s agreement to purchase 3.1 miles of the unused rail corridor for trail development, but the next day it was revealed that the railroad had secretly sold the land to a private individual unwilling to allow a trail.
Contentious legal battles followed for five years, ultimately reaching the state Supreme Court before the town prevailed and moved forward with Massachusetts’ first rail-trail and the first trail in the nation’s history to be reassembled by eminent domain.
Barbara’s tenacious work on the Shining Sea Bikeway introduced her son David to the emerging concept of rail-trails at a pivotal moment. In the early 1980s, railroads across the country were abandoning between 4,000 and 8,000 miles of rail line each year, and David, then a lawyer with the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, D.C., helped bring together walking, hiking and cycling enthusiasts, railroad historians, conservation and parks leaders and alternative transportation advocates to organize a national effort to protect rail corridors for future trail use.
By the mid-1980s, the idea had taken on a life of its own. David Burwell and environmental activist Peter Harnik put forward a detailed proposal for Rails to Trails Conservancy, which officially opened its doors in February 1986. From the start, David Burwell’s deep understanding of the legal frameworks behind rail-trails, and how the courts could influence their future, quietly but decisively set the organization on a path to success.
David and Barbara are Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champions for their significant roles in helping to build and grow America’s thriving rail-trail movement, modeling what trail leadership could look like.
Their legacy continues on Cape Cod through the efforts of residents like Leonard and Patricia (Patty) Johnson, whose dedicated and persistent advocacy—”grit and petitioning,” said Jansen—helped extend the bikeway from Skating Lane in Falmouth to the old train station depot in North Falmouth. The rail-trail extension that Patty championed connected four village centers, providing a safe route to the coast, nature, jobs, school and restaurants.
“I’m 87 and Patty’s 86,” Leonard said. “We’re out there three times a week, early in the morning. One of the things we’ve found is that so many of the people involved in transportation at the state level, and even at the local level, don’t get on a bike or on a trail personally. And professionally, they see their job as moving cars. They don’t understand how liberating biking down a trail is to your well-being and peace of mind.”
An Everyday Trail for Everyone
For Jansen and the Johnsons, the trail’s greatest success is in the people who use it. On any given day, the bikeway brings together parents riding alongside young children, older adults using walkers, neighbors out with their dogs, teenagers cruising in groups and cyclists in full Lycra, all sharing the same pavement. And, importantly, the Shining Sea Bikeway is a space where people using mobility devices such as wheelchairs and walkers are not an afterthought but an expected part of the landscape. That mix, Jansen said, is exactly the point: a trail designed for everyone, working as it should.
That commitment to inclusion is reflected in the details. The bikeway is strategically designed with places to pause, rest and take in the view: Benches–including one in memory of David Burwell–offer quiet places to sit. Scenic bump-outs invite riders to pull over. Interpretive signs dot the route, sharing the history of the corridor, the ecology of the bogs and salt marshes and the stories surrounding the trail.
At trail-adjacent shops and cafés, local business owners welcome a steady stream of cyclists and pedestrians who arrive ready to stay a while.
“Everyone realizes what a tremendous asset the bikeway is,” Leonard said. “People used to come to the Cape and say, ‘Where’s the beach?’ Now they say, ‘Where’s the bike path?’ We have a booming rental business in Falmouth that has 200 or so bicycles, and they run out of bikes! We see them up and down the bikeway in the summer.”
In Woods Hole, Pie in the Sky Bakery and Café, located at the bikeway’s terminus, serves as an all-seasons stop for a rotation of runners, walkers, rollerbladers and cyclists. Trail counters show there are about 350,000 trips a year on the trail.
“People come here from all over the world,” said Erik Gura, general manager of Pie in the Sky Bakery and Café and advocate for active transportation. “They’re here for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the [University of Chicago’s] Marine Biological Laboratory, in addition to tourists. The bikeway is the best way to explore the area.
“People have been working on the bikeway for more than 40 years,” he continued. “The concept of a linear park is such an asset to the community. You can’t beat the sunsets at Great Sippewissett Marsh, and you don’t need a car to get there.”
Lasting Stewardship Along the Shining Sea
About a quarter of the bikeway runs alongside conservation land, linking the different regions of the Cape.
“Between North Falmouth, West Falmouth, Falmouth Village and Woods Hole you have completely different plants, different lays of the land,” said Gura.
Those visible changes along the corridor reflect deeper ecological systems at work. As the trail moves through distinct landscapes, the interpretive signage highlights the importance of intentional conservation efforts that sustain these environments, from salt marshes to cranberry bogs.
Jansen said the area is home to a lot of scientists and retired scientists from the Oceanographic Institution and the Marine Biological Laboratory who ensure conservation is enmeshed with the trail.
“We’re always—always—focused on conservation,” Jansen said. “Here, you have to be conservation first. And we’re looking forward 30 years and talking to our fantastic department of public works about areas of the bikeway at risk from climate change and nor’easters.”
An ongoing issue is invasive black locust trees, which have presented challenges to the bikeway with their “alien” tree roots.
“The roots go under the bikeway and pop up, making a bump,” Jansen said, “Then they degrade, which opens potholes. But if you just cut the roots, ten more show up. You have to remove and replant with a non-invasive species.” The Falmouth Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee is actively seeking a grant to remove invasive species along the trail.
That hands-on involvement helps ensure the corridor not only stays safe for people, but continues to sustain the rich natural life around it. Wildlife thrives along the route, with frequent sightings of foxes and deer. Birders spot egrets, great blue herons and red-tailed hawks.
“Patty invariably sees a bird before I do,” Leonard said. “And we always check to see if the turtles have come out of the marsh or the ospreys are around.”
Ospreys were near extinction in the 1950s and 1960s and now nest every summer on high platforms visible from the bikeway. Their recovery echoes the resilience found all along the trail.
A Missing Link
The Shining Sea Bikeway is part of Vision 88, a plan to build a fully connected network of trails stretching 88 miles across Cape Cod. The next major step in that plan is the proposed Bourne Rail-Trail, which would create a 6.5-mile multiuse path in Bourne, linking the Shining Sea Bikeway with the Cape Cod Canal Pathway. The project depends on the removal of a freight track, which occupies the corridor where the trail is proposed to be built. The community has had mixed reactions to pulling up the tracks, sparking debate between losing existing rail infrastructure and enhancing regional connectivity.
“Right now, there’s one trash train a week that benefits one private business owner,” Jansen said. “We’re really hoping this gets built. It would be amazing. You could ride all the way into Sandwich, all on protected, beautiful bike paths.”
Persistent advocacy to connect the trails ensures the Shining Sea Bikeway continues to function both as a recreational destination and an everyday route for residents and visitors. It reflects a legacy of advocacy, planning and maintenance, balanced with conservation.
“We grew up biking to school,” Leonard said. “And we’ve biked across the country and in countries around the world. We want to see this infrastructure supported here.”
Related Links
Trail Facts
Name: Shining Sea Bikeway
Used railroad corridor: New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
Trail website: Town of Falmouth
Length: 10.7 miles
County: Barnstable
Start point/end point: CR 151, between Pine St. and N. Falmouth Hwy. (Falmouth) to Steamship Authority at Railroad Ave. (Woods Hole)
Surface type: Asphalt
Grade: The Bikeway is mostly flat with no notable hills, switchbacks or steep areas along the trail’s route.
Uses: Walking, bicycling, inline skating; wheelchair accessible
Difficulty: Easy
Getting there: By air, Cape Cod Gateway Airport (HYA) in Hyannis (about 20 miles east of the trail) is the regional hub for connecting flights, especially to and from nearby islands like Nantucket, while Provincetown Municipal Airport (PVC) at the tip of the Cape (about 75 miles north of the trail) provides limited Cape Air flights to/from Boston. Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), which lies about 70 miles northwest of the trail, is the closest major airport.
Ferries are available, including the Steamship Authority’s year-round service between Woods Hole and Martha’s Vineyard.
During weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, offers the CapeFLYER, a passenger train from South Station in Boston to Hyannis, with a stop in Buzzards Bay. Bikes are allowed on the CapeFLYER with no additional charge.
Access and parking: Nearly a dozen parking locations are available along the trail. Here are a few of those locations (from south to north):
- Steamship Authority, 1 Cowdry Road (Woods Hole)
- 23 Old Dock Road (Falmouth)
- 81 Depot Ave. (Falmouth)
Note: The Woods Hole parking area is not recommended during the summer due to extreme congestion.
To navigate the area with an interactive GIS map, and to see more photos, user reviews and ratings, plus loads of other trip-planning information, visit TrailLink™, RTC’s free trail-finder website.
Rentals: Corner Cycle (115 Palmer Ave., Falmouth; 508.540.4195) is about a quarter-mile from the Shining Sea Bikeway. In North Falmouth, Art’s Bike Shop (91 County Road, North Falmouth; 508.563.7379) is also about a quarter-mile from the trail.
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