The Coast Guard has been at Woods Hole since 1857, when the lighthouse service bought this property as a maintenance facility to support their buoys, lights and lightships. This site is home to the Group Headquarters and also to a number of the units that report to Group Woods Hole. Group Woods Hole is one of the largest groups in the United States, covering the coastline from Plymouth, Massachusetts to the north, and the Rhode Island/Connecticut border to the west.