Weddings at the Woods Hole Inn

Weddings in Woods Hole.  What a lovely idea!

At the Woods Hole Inn, we embrace brides in the tradition of the past and the spirit of modern day design and service.  We love customizing events for you, opening the whole property up for your inspired events and toasting you personally on your big day.

This season, we welcomed countless honeymooners and bridal parties, some of whom took over the whole inn for all their guests.  One memorable event included a day-after-the-wedding brunch on our front porch for the bride, groom and their 80 guests.  It was hot, so we served alot of lemonade and iced tea!  Our restaurant Quicks Hole (open May - September) was happy to cater this lovely morning with homemade muffins, all natural jams, bite-size quiches and fresh fruits.  Delish!

We toast all the brides out there, and welcome you to come take a look at Woods Hole -- a perfectly romantic place to tie the knot.

Memento Vivere

Memento Vivere...Remember to Live.

"Memento Vivere" was tattooed on the arm of a friend who died unexpectedly last month.  Like he was trying to send a posthumous message to the rest of us... And so it was I embraced the carpe diem of it all and wandered off the beaten path this week in Woods Hole.

Ahh, the fall weather on Cape Cod is so unbelievably sweet.  I walked in the full moonlight around on Harbor Hill Road and back into town at School Street.  It was about 10 pm on a quiet Monday night and once I was on Harbor Hill I did not see a person or a car until a got back into town.  The crickets were singing to me, moonlight filtered through the leaves and a soft warm breeze followed.  Magical, zen, very in the moment.

Jon Kabat-Zinn lives in Woods Hole, with his family, and if you have read any of his books ("Full Catastrophe Living" or "Wherever You Go, There You Are") you will recognize the splendor in a moment like that one.   

So I share a few fall photos of Woods Hole.   This is from the Great Harbor where the ferries pass daily to the Vineyard, looking back across the water at our little town.  Windy day, but not cold yet.

The Woods Hole Passage, they call it, and it is one of the most treacherous crossings on the eastern seaboard -- currents of 4-5 knots pull industrial sized buoys sideways at peak tides and the narrow channel is peppered with rocks the size of small islands.  A boat a day goes on the rocks here in the summer and there is a Coast Guard station around the corner to service all the rescues needed.  Through these waters pass huge yachts, old wooden racing boats called "Twelve Footers" and "Knockabouts," Hinckley picnic boats daytripping to Quicks Hole and fishing boats of all shapes and sizes following the striped bass and bluefish.

And this is Hadley Harbor in the off season.  A short boat ride from Woods Hole, through the Woods Hole Passage, any local charter fisherman can take you there.  Empty and undeveloped, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Memento Vivere.

Why Celebs Love Woods Hole

Woods Hole is filled with marine biologists, wooden boat builders and fisherman. If you ask a Woods Hole local, most will tell you that they do not own a TV. The movie theater is at least a half hour from here and dvd rentals are slow at the "Coffee O." Woods Hole is a place where pop culture is not much of a priority.

So when Steve Carell and his family drop in for a lobster taco at Quicks Hole restaurant, NOBODY RECOGNIZES HIM! That's right, it's seems most Woods Holies have never seen "The Office" or "The 40 Year Old Virgin" or "Little Miss Sunshine." So, Steve just wanders around, orders what he likes, sits and enjoys a cold brew -- whateva. No paparazzi, no autograph seekers, no lookie-loos.

Little known fact about most celebrities -- they like being ignored. It's a break from their public lives. Add to that the chance to nosh great local fare and boat in some of the world's best waters and you have catnip for the fabulous and famous. Steve and entourage wandered across Vineyard Sound from their family compound near Tashmoo, swam on a sandbar, toured Woods Hole Harbor and ate at Quicks Hole.

It was a fabulous and famous Woods Hole day.

Lobster Tacos

Lobster Tacos are a sublime idea. Cold succulent lobster lightly dressed. Fresh cut red cabbage, a touch of lime on a hot corn taco?? Incredible.

New to Woods Hole this summer, the lobster taco is an inspired fusion of traditional Cape Cod with a dash of innovation from the surf shacks of Baha California.

Don't miss this treat, and much more at the all new Quicks Hole restaurant. Its on the ground floor of the Woods Hole Inn, right next to the t-shirt shop and facing the Martha's Vineyard ferry hides the hottest new joint in town. Word is leaking out about this place, and while it opens at 10 for lunch there is often a line of impatient ferry-goers at the door, jonesing for their fix that will be bagged and consumed on the the ferry. What's better than the upper deck of the "Island Home" with a lobster taco, a 360 degree view of the Sound and the gulls circling jealously overhead?

Also on the menu -- amazing local salads served in a fried tortilla bowl, rare yellowfin tuna burritos, sweet potato fries, hot chips with fresh salsas, made-to-order quacamole...see where we are going here?

Woods Hole Inn guests get a discount at Quicks Hole at check in.

See you soon!

If you miss the boat, don't Miss The Boat...

Any season. Especially summer! You DON'T want to miss that last ferry to the Vineyard.

You find yourself, cold-knuckling it on the last bus down from Boston (or up from NYC). Over the Bourne Bridge, through the rotaries on Route 28. You are glancing nervously at your watch...will I make the boat? You glide into Woods Hole, the distinctive curve of little Harbor and your first glimpse of water to the left. And there she is out on the horizon, your eyes on the prize... Martha's Vineyard shimmering in the moonlight. You mutter to yourself, damn it that boat better still be there.

And then, the slip is empty! The dock deserted. The ticket window closed and dark. You have joined legions of travelers who over the years have missed the last boat.

So, when you miss the boat...don't Miss The Boat. Walk 100 yards up Luscombe Ave and ring the doorbell at the Woods Hole Inn. If we have room, we will welcome you with open arms. Relax onto your pillow top mattress and dream about the morning ferry, the early one with your "New York Times" and a hot cup of Joe. The one where the bow of the ferry seems to separate the fog bank and the sleepy gulls drift after you looking for scraps. The one that gets you there with a great night's sleep behind you.

The Woods Hole Inn. The place to go when you miss the boat.

Tally Forbes show at Quick's Hole

Quick's Hole is open for the season with wicked fresh lobster rolls, burritos and tacos! Come in for a mouth-watering meal or to see the amazing new space hung with new paintings by Tally Forbes.

In addition, Quicks is now selling gourmet cupcakes made fresh daily from all organic materials by our friends at "CupCapes of Falmouth" on Main Street. The Red Velvet Sox with cream cheese frosting are not to be missed. And our coffee is roasted locally at "Pie in the Sky"

Stop by today and learn why people are saying this is the "hottest new joint in Woods Hole" -- we are across the street from the ferry landing and at the end of the Shining Sea bike path on the ground floor of the famous Woods Hole Inn. 6 Luscombe Ave in Woods Hole. Menu and more at www.quicksholewickedfresh.com.

The Landfall

I love the Landfall Restaurant.

Perched right on the edge of the Atlantic with french doors across the front, it sits like a dock on the cusp of Woods Hole harbor. From here, the ferries come and go like stately matrons marching back and forth across Vineyard Sound. Watch the gulls, hear the tinkle of a child's laughter as the boat pulls away, sit back with a cold brew as the crowds fight their way onto the Vineyard.

You see, the locals know that there is no rush to get out there. That half the fun is the process and if you miss this boat, another one leaves in a half hour so why not enjoy the breeze for a few extra minutes? The room is littered with lobster pots hung from the rafters and staffed by the college kid you wish you once were -- bright-eyed, optimistic and efficient.

The Landfall is such an institution that they hold reunions of their summer staff each year and scores of former employees now masters-of-the-universe show up for one more Cape Codder on the edge of the world. This is one of the few spots on the East Coast where the sun sets over the water (think about it, setting in the west usually means over land if you are on the Atlantic).

When hurricanes come, the owners just take the french doors off, clear everything out and wait for the tidal surge to wash through the restaurant. That's how close this place is to the water.

There is a webcam at the end of the dock here, looking out at Nonamesset Island. In the spring there's a banner announcing the restaurant's opening day. I like to log on just to see if it's raining, or if the ferry is pulling out. Or some brave spring fisherman is heading out from the Eel Pond. Or a new vessel has docked at WHOI. For me it's a rite of spring to start thinking about what is happening in WoHo, who is there, what's going on and when will I get to the Landfall for the baked scrod and a pinot grigio?

Somehow, I suspect, I am not the only one who counts on this webcam to bridge me to the actual summer. Check it out on www.woodshole.com.

WoHo's Colorful History

This little town is completely surrounded by water.

Woods Hole is one of the few good harbors on Cape Cod -- it was a whaling port like Nantucket back in Melville's time. In the 1860s, the peninsula was developed as a fertilizer factory. Shipping merchants from Boston were looking for a commodity to fill empty ships on the journey back from China. They settled on bird dung from a South Pacific island. When mixed with fish scraps, I guess the lime was an effective agricultural aid (is that organic?). This fine brew was shipped by railroad out of Woods Hole. I bet that smelled great on hot days.

Anyway, eventually the company literally emptied all the bird guano from their island, and the Woods Hole site was abandoned in 1889. So what happens to old factory land in America? Build a resort, of course! The thin strip was renamed "Penzance Point" (that sounds better than, say, Former Guano Factory:) Smack in the middle of the Gilded Age, (think "Gatsby"), up went Newport-style mansions. Most of these shingle-style cottages are still here, behemoths perched on the edge of the sea with spectacular water views with the great grandkids of their builders still racing to Hadley Harbor in 12-footers.

Around this time, a strong-minded local decided to improve the sound of things by renaming the town, "Woods Holl." This had "a sylvan and romantic flavor...suggest(ing) moonlit glades and flowery dells" according to the New York Times in 1899 -- and was better than the somewhat crass "Hole," I guess. Perhaps the locals were hoping to disassociate themselves with the memory of a factory town that smelled like bird *@#%. But whatever the reason, the affectation did not stick for long. People couldn't spell it or say it, letters to the post office were lost and with little fanfare, the name was changed back.

So here we are now, living in this little slice of heaven that I call WoHo. It's like SoHo, only cooler (literally -- there is always a breeze). I wonder what it would take to get that name on the post office door...

Spring has come to WoHo

I like to call it WoHo. And when spring actually arrives, watch out 'cause it's really gorgeous. When you glide into the ferry landing from Martha's Vineyard, you can see the inn commanding the harbor in all her grey-blue shingled glory. Water views! I love being in the middle of everything but also able to meditate on the water from my room.

In WoHo this time of year, everyone is sweeping their stoops and shaking off the winter blues to get ready for the summer season. I saw Donny Estes of the famous Landfall Restaurant -- he opened a few weeks ago offering customers the best waterfront view in town. And my friend Erik Gura who runs "Pie in the Sky" was puttering behind the counter even though he sliced his hand fixing his expresso machine last week.

At the inn, we have been closed for a few weeks to finish some construction on the ground floor. Our incredible construction partners (Lauren, Dan, Kat you rock) have been hustling to get it all done. We put in a new sprinkler system and upgraded all the walls and ceilings to "2-hour fire ratings" which means our old Victorian is now updated to current building code which is pretty darn cool. Born in 1878, made modern in 2008.

We have a new T-shirt shop (Cape Cod Sweats) opening on the ground floor in a few days, and we are rushing to get our burrito bar/restaurant called "Quick's Hole, wicked fresh" open by Memorial Day. More to come on that subject.

But the weather! Can I wax rhapsodic for a minute? It's sunny, not too hot, gentle breeze off the still wintery waters. So crisp and clear, it looks like you can reach out and grab the Vineyard. Like, who-needs-the-ferry-I'll-swim, kinda clear.

I took my bike out of the basement and rolled up the Shining Sea bike path to where the woods melt behind you and Surf Beach yawns out like a crescent. I had to stop and just gape, it was so gorgeous. I turned back and cycled straight to "Pie" -- in WoHo, a 20 minute ride earns a latte and popover.