Place Information
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Falmouth is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 32,660 at the 2000 census. Today Falmouth is well known as the terminal for the Steamship Authority ferries to Martha's Vineyard and as the home of several scientific organizations such as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI, The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and the Woods Hole Research Center, WHRC. The Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League play at Arnie Allen Diamond at Guv Fuller Field from mid-June to early August. Falmouth is the home of its namesake Falmouth Road Race, an annual race started in 1973 that draws over 10,000 runners from all over the world. For geographic and demographic information on specific parts of the town of Falmouth, please see the articles on East Falmouth, Falmouth Village, North Falmouth, Teaticket, West Falmouth, and Woods Hole. There are also the villages of Hatchville and Waquoit, which are not census-designated places. History
Falmouth was first settled in 1660 and was officially incorporated in 1686, and named by Bartholomew Gosnold for Falmouth, Cornwall, England, his home port. Early principal activities were farming, salt works, whaling and shipping, and sheep. Sheep husbandry was very popular due to the introduction of Merino sheep and the beginnings of water-powered mills that could process the wool. In 1837, Falmouth averaged about 50 sheep per sq. mile. Falmouth saw brief action in the War of 1812 when it was bombarded by several British frigates and ships of the line, and Massachusetts militia hastily entrenched themselves on the beaches to repulse a possible British landing which never came. By the 1872 the train had come to Falmouth and Woods Hole and some of the first summer homes were established. By the late 1800s cranberries were being cultivated and strawberries were being raised for the Boston market. Large scale dairying was tried in the early 1900s in interior regions. After the improvement in highways, and thanks in part to the heavy use of neighboring Camp Edwards during WWII, population growth increased significantly. There were large home building booms in the 1970s followed by others in the 1980s and 1990s. It is the birthplace in 1859 of Katharine Lee Bates, lyricist of America the Beautiful. Research Tips
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