Pedal Through the Past: A Bike Tour with the Falmouth Historical Society

Pedal Through the Past: A Bike Tour with the Falmouth Historical Society

Two Dates: September 18 & October 16, 1:30pm

Spring is in the air—the best time of year for a long bicycle ride! If you love bicycling and history, please join us for a new historic bike tour around Falmouth on Friday, June 5th.

Museum docent and tour guide Scott Wayne will lead a small pack of cyclists on a route that loops from the Village Green, down to Woods Hole’s Penzance Point, and back again.

Much of the trip takes place along the Shining Sea Bikeway, which was dedicated in November 1975 as part of the town’s U.S. Bicentennial celebration. Now that we’re marking the 250th birthday of the United States in 2026, it’s an especially good time to revisit the bikeway and to discover a variety of historic landmarks nearby.

This unique tour will recreate a journey first taken by Falmouth citizens in September 1930. In that year, Massachusetts was celebrating its 300th birthday, and each town placed markers at its own most cherished historic sites. Falmouth residents made a solemn procession to nine locations, unveiling memorial plaques at each stop. They traveled on foot and by motorcar, and no doubt a few hardy souls joined the parade on their bicycles!

These historic markers have stood for 96 years. You may have been passing them by for years without even noticing them. Some locations, like the Village Green, you can probably guess. Others may be news to you (Ever heard of General Swift’s birthplace?). Our bike tour will stop at each location, where Scott will explain its significance and show vintage photos. Counting the time spent at these stops, the tour should take about three hours.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The ride covers about 11 miles, of which 7 are on the bike path and 4 on streets.
• Bring your own bike, helmet, water, etc.
• No fully electric bikes; pedal-assisted okay
• Participants must be 16 or older
• Participants must sign a liability waiver
• Limit of 8 participants
• No rain date; if canceled for weather your money will be refunded
• Tour is 3 hours

$25 Non-Members / $15 Museums on the Green Members