Home to Bowdoin College, this small college town in Maine has impressive cultural institutions rivaling those of many big cities.
Brunswick, Maine is the home of Bowdoin College, a pre-eminent liberal arts college founded in 1794. Experience the town’s history and youthful exuberance.
For a perfect Brunswick vacation, start with a leisurely stroll through Bowdoin’s campus. Imagine yourself chatting with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1825 Bowdoin graduates. Stop at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, with a fine collection of European and American art. Get educated in nearby Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, which has numerous artifacts and photographs from famous polar explorers and Bowdoin alumni, Robert Peary and Donald MacMillan. Meander through the quad to the First Parish Church for an organ concert. Inside this beautiful church, Harriet Beecher Stowe was inspired to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Brunswick is the perfect place to spend a summer evening. Have an early dinner at a restaurant along the Federal Street Historic District. Walk to the Pickard Theater, home to the Maine State Music Theatre, the state’s pre-eminent professional performance group. Enjoy the show and wander back to Federal Street for dessert or an after-dinner drink.
Immerse yourself in local history with the Pejepscot Historical Society, a dedicated group whose mission is to maintain and enliven the history of Brunswick and surroundings. Stop at the Pejepscot Museum, where rotating exhibits reveal various aspects of Brunswick’s past from its authors, to its wartime history, to how its children play. Walk down the street to the Skolfield-Whittier House, a historic house that is a time capsule of Victorian sensibilities and design.
Drive to Brunswick in 30 minutes from the international airport in Portland, Maine, or 2 hours from Boston. The city is also accessible by rail from either of these cities or by bus from Portland. Park your car at the beginning of the day and explore this small but thriving town on foot. Ride the local bus system to a variety of other regional locations.
Brunswick is a small town with big literary history, the perfect place to appreciate arts, history and old-fashioned college town charm.
