The Shining Sea Bikeway follows the route of a former railroad line run by the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company, which ran service to New York and Boston from 1872 to 1965. After the railroad company discontinued service along the line, local residents Joan Kanwisher, Barbara Burwell (mother of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s cofounder David Burwell), and several other supporters organized in a nine-year-long effort to have the village of Woods Hole acquire the land and build a trail, which officially opened in June 1974. 

It’s no wonder that the bikeway was named after the lyrics to “America the Beautiful,” written by Falmouth native Katharine Lee Bates. The 10.7-mile Shining Sea Bikeway, the only bikeway on Cape Cod to feature a seaside section, boasts beautiful vistas of marshes, rivers, and the sea.

Shining Sea Bike Path (Birdability) webpage