Bowdoin College - Local Atmosphere

College Prowler Take

The quaint little town of Brunswick offers a New England feel with antique stores, boutiques, and restaurants dotting Maine Street. Brunswick’s tranquil location creates a warm setting with tree-lined streets, open parks, bed and breakfasts, nice stores, eateries, and much more. Like much of New England, Brunswick boasts an amazing fall with colors changing, cool refreshing temperatures, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and an amazing sense of serenity. Maine also holds many natural offerings for Bowdoin students. In warmer weather, swimming, surfing, hiking, and boating opportunities are easily accessible. When winter arrives, students take advantage of some of the best skiing on the East Coast.

Bowdoin’s campus is nestled into the town of Brunswick, close to the middle and high schools, hospitals, downtown areas, shopping, and the ocean, and students at Bowdoin find comfort in these tranquil surroundings. Students comment that the town, at times, doesn’t offer enough variety to complement their busy lifestyles, but Brunswick is consistently modernizing and becoming increasingly college-friendly. A number of amazing restaurants have opened up along Main Street, and bigger stores have started popping up in Cooks Corner. Town-gown relations could be better, but compared to many other schools, student-resident relations are excellent. One of the reasons for this is that Bowdoin does a lot to give back to the community. On the whole, students have a healthy relationship with Brunswick and often take the five-minute walk downtown for a cup of coffee or a nice sandwich or to find a cozy study spot off campus.

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Students Speak Out

Anonymous says:

Brunswick is becoming nicer and... Brunswick is becoming nicer and nicer every year. All these little shops, cafés, and eateries are opening up, making Brunswick classier, more accessible, and more appealing to Bowdoin students. Even Hannaford is becoming more organic! 12345 Report

Anonymous says:

Bart and Greg’s DVD... Bart and Greg’s DVD Explosion offers a great selection of movies at $3.50 per rental. Bullmoose offers a really vast selection of cheap CDs. They even have a lot of Indie music available if you’re into that. 12345 Report

Anonymous says:

Brunswick is a very small town,... Brunswick is a very small town, which seems separate from the college. I’ve found that one can live on campus and still not have contact with Maine culture if that is what you want from your time at Bowdoin. 12345 Report

Anonymous says:

There are ski resorts, state... There are ski resorts, state parks, and opportunities for great kayaking, hiking, and surfing scattered all around Bowdoin. Maine is home to some of the best, if not the best, skiing in the East. Bowdoin is perfect for anyone who loves the outdoors, and even if you come not being an outdoorsy person, living in Maine is a great way to fall in love with the outdoors. 12345 Report

Anonymous says:

Maybe it’s because I’m... Maybe it’s because I’m a minority student, or that I wear the usual Bowdoin apparel on a daily basis, but it is obvious that I am not a local. Anyhow, people in town are friendly and generally interested in the fact that you’re from the college. I personally think the giant staircase out by Bailey Island is a must-go for the students; it’s a date spot, and it’s awesome. 12345 Report

Facts

Did You Know?

Five Fun Facts about Brunswick:
• Brunswick is the home of a 1,000-acre Town Common, granted by the Pejepscot Proprietors in 1719 and left to this day in its natural state. Trails offer a wealth of natural beauty for photographers as well as a place of enjoyment for those who simply want to walk and enjoy what Mother Nature has to offer. Other forested and wetland preserves in Brunswick include the Bowdoin Pines Trail, the Captain Alfred Skolfield Nature Preserve, and Cox Pinnacle.

• Brunswick has a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee charged with reviewing existing bicycle and pedestrian conditions and recommending improvements that foster these travel modes. The Androscoggin River Bicycle Path, a commuter path connecting Topsham, downtown Brunswick, and Cooks Corner, was completed in 2000.

• Brunswick is on the Androscoggin River and near the confluence of the Androscoggin and the Kennebec in Merrymeeting Bay. Brunswick is also within a half-hour's drive to many bird sanctuaries, wooded preserves, and beaches, including Reid State Park, Bates-Morse Mountain Preserve, Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, and Popham Beach State Park, at the extreme end of the Kennebec River, which came close to being the site of the first permanent English settlement in New England, ahead of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

• Brunswick is home to the Bowdoin International Music Festival and Maine State Music Theater, both putting on performances throughout the summer.

• Brunswick has one of the three historic pedestrian swinging bridges in Maine. Built in 1892, it is a steel and wood structure originally built as a way for workers from Topsham Heights to get to work at the Cabot Mill (Fort Andross).

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