Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States.

It lies at the extreme southwestern corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands.

[2] It is the site of several marine science institutions, including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Marine Biological Laboratory, the Woodwell Climate 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.

Woods Hole is also the site of United States Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England (formerly USCG Group Woods Hole),[3] the Nobska Light lighthouse, and the terminus of the Steamship Authority ferry route between Cape Cod and the island of Martha's Vineyard.

The community became a center for whaling, shipping, and fishing, prior to its dominance today by tourism and marine research.

After the firm went bankrupt in 1889, Long Neck – the peninsula on which their factory was located – was renamed Penzance Point and was developed with shingle-style summer homes for bankers and lawyers from New York and Boston.

Notable property owners on Penzance Point at the beginning of the twentieth century included Seward Prosser of New York's Bankers Trust Company; Francis Bartow, a partner in J. P. Morgan and Company; Joseph Lee, a partner in Lee, Higginson & Co.; and Franklin A.

The eminent Hungarian born biochemist and Nobel prize laureate, Albert Imre Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt died in Woods Hole in 1986.

The present Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority was formed from the New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Company, which in turn was a consolidation of earlier companies dating to the early 19th century, just before the railroad arrived.

The annual Falmouth Road Race brings thousands of runners to Woods Hole in August each year.

Students regularly visit ecosystems around the village to study the organisms in their natural environments, such as the Sippewissett Salt Marsh.

Some mention of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is made in the 1975 blockbuster film Jaws as having been the center of research for the fictional character Matt Hooper.