EVERY summer, hundreds of thousands of people visit Woods Hole, Mass., a Cape Cod port town with secluded beaches, warm Gulf Stream waters, prime fishing and a charming main street. Typical length of stay: about half an hour.
Some (the ones who race into town, tires screeching, lurch to a stop and jump out of their cars in a panic) are gone in five minutes.
It’s not that lovers of summer are recoiling from Woods Hole — house prices there now average $700,000, and one opulent place on the water sold last year for more than $10 million. It’s simply that most people are on the way to the pricier, higher-cachet Martha’s Vineyard. Woods Hole is where they park the car and catch the ferry.