What’s next for the Captain Davis House in Woods Hole?
August 13, 2025
As we announced at our Annual Meeting in July, the Woods Hole Community Association’s next meeting will be a forum to discuss potential uses for the recently purchased Captain Davis House at 3 Water Street in Woods Hole. It will take place Tuesday, August 19th, at 7:30 PM in the Community Hall, 68 Water St.
There’s still time to submit your thoughts and ideas for the building via an online form we’re using to capture your suggestions. Click here for the form.
We welcome you to submit your ideas for discussion during the meeting, but if you are planning to do so, please take a look at the form beforehand so that you know the baseline questions that we are asking.
The meeting will be facilitated, an agenda will be presented at the start of the session, and we’re looking to keep the discussion to around 60 minutes.
We appreciate that there are many thoughts about how the 3 Water Street location should be used, and as an organization, our goal is to identify the best use that supports both the mission of the WHCA and the needs of our community.
Many thanks for your support as we navigate this question, and we are looking forward to this conversation, and your participation.
The Captain Davis House, at 3 Water Street, represents a rare opportunity: a workspace in the commercial center of the village, controlled by the village. What should happen in the building? The community will have a chance to decide.
How we got here
The Woods Hole Community Association purchased the Captain Davis House outright in January with overwhelming community support. Following the purchase, the Community Association offered WCAI, the current tenant, five years rent-free and any reasonable improvements to remain in the building. That offer was declined. WCAI is expected to move out this fall.
Imagining the future
The Community Association is soliciting ideas from the community for what could happen next at the Captain Davis House. All ideas are welcome! This is a chance to dream big, to dream fancifully, to stretch our notion of what is feasible. We offer only some very basic guidelines:
- Community benefit: the use should create a positive contribution to the community through cultural, educational, or other means
- The building may house multiple coexisting uses – it doesn’t need to be only a single use
- Use must conform to the existing zoning limitations on the property
A path forward
The Woods Hole Community Association plans to embark on a facilitated, community-wide discussion with the goal of identifying a public-benefiting use for the Captain Davis House. No timeline is imposed on the process at the outset. We will invite ideas and proposals, solicit public feedback, collectively brainstorm, and ultimately work toward identifying a mutually acceptable choice or choices. Multiple public meetings, including virtual components and online postings, should ensure that the process is transparent and accessible.
We’re excited that the process in itself represents a rare chance for the community to engage collectively on a creative project with a positive impact, and we look forward to fresh thinking and lively discussions.
