Scientific laboratories and offices take up most of the space at the tip of the tiny peninsula on which Woods Hole is built (map), leaving room for only a few streets of old houses, a few small boatyards, a restaurant or two, and the large docks and parking lots for the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket Steamship Authority's car ferry to Martha's Vineyard.

The Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole is one of the world's great centers for the study of sea life.

Besides the laboratory, Woods Hole is home to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), the Northeast Fisheries Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the US Geological Survey's Branch of Atlantic Geology.

WHOI's Ocean Science Exhibit Center at 15 School Street (tel. 508-289-2663 or 508-289-2700) has displays explaining the work of WHOI, its scientists and engineers, and showing some of the instruments used in their research.

In summer, WHOI personnel lead visitors on walking tours through the Institute's dock and other restricted areas to give you a feel for the Institute's work.

The US Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service maintains the Woods Hole Science Aquarium on Water Street (the town's main street) down at the end of the peninsula.

Follow Water Street through the town; just after it turns right, the aquarium is on your left. It's open mid-June to mid-September from 10 am to 4 pm daily; from 9 am to 4 pm the rest of the year; admission is free.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Information Office
Co-op Building, MS #16
Woods Hole MA 02543
Tel: 508-289-2252
Fax: 508-457-2034
information@whoi.edu

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