Please also see our Arts & Culture pages to learn about our town's many cultural organizations, performance venues, cinemas, galleries, museums and historic sites.
In and around Brunswick you'll find beaches, parks, golf courses, places for camping, hiking, biking, boating, fishing or kayaking. From challenging outdoor sports to more leisurely pastimes, there is something to occupy people of all ages and energy levels. Here are a few:
Androscoggin Bicycle & Pedestrian Path
The 2.63 mile paved bicycle/walking path offers many scenic overlooks of the Androscoggin River while providing a walking or biking connection between downtown Brunswick and Cook's Corner. It is a popular location for jogging and roller-blading, too. The path can be accessed via Water Street (just past the Boat Landing) in town, from Grover Lane, near Cook's Corner, and from Topsham via a pedestrian/bicycle lane over the Coastal Connector bridge.
Androscoggin Brunswick-Topsham Riverwalk
Enjoy a stroll along the Androscoggin on a path that will become increasingly lovely and user-friendly in coming years. The Androscoggin Brunswick-Topsham Riverwalk will be a year-round, in-town walking loop, 1.25 miles long. Fully-accessible paths, including sidewalks in the more urban portions of the route, and dotted with benches and directional signage, will link the Frank J. Wood (“Green”) Bridge to the historic Androscoggin Swinging Bridge along the Androscoggin River in both Brunswick and Topsham.
Bowdoin College Athletics
Bowdoin's athletic programs offer a wonderful complement to students' academic experience and are great fun for local followers. There are 31 varsity teams, six club teams, three levels of intramural competition in ten sports - all open to the public. Keep up with all the action on the Bowdoin Athletics web page or with the Polar Bear Sports Hotline: 725-3061.
Brunswick-Topsham Swinging Bridge
The Swinging Bridge in Maine was built in 1892 for workers walking across the Androscoggin River from the Topsham Heights neighborhood to Cabot Mill in Brunswick. The bridge was constructed by John A. Roebling's Sons Company, the engineering firm that designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, as well as other bridges around the world. The bridge's history is closely tied to the French Canadian heritage of Topsham and Brunswick.
In the early 1900s the present steel towers replaced original timber-framed ones. A flood destroyed the superstructure of the bridge in 1936 and was rebuilt in 1938 by the WPA. However, the current cables date back to 1892. The towns of Brunswick and Topsham created a joint committee to repair the bridge in 2000. Bridge renovation was completed in December 2006, and public parks on each side of the bridge were completed in the summer of 2007. Two of John A Roebling's great-great-great granddaughters attended the reopening and dedication ceremony on September 8.
Cribstone Bridge
Route 24, Harpswell, ME
Construction on a 1,150-foot bridge to connect Harpswell's Bailey and Orr's Islands took place in 1927-1928. The director of the project was Llewelyn N. Edwards, engineer for the Maine State Highway Commission. Design of the bridge was complicated by the tides in the area, known as Will's Gut. It was decided to use granite slabs from local quarries on the border between Yarmouth and Pownal, Maine. These were considered sufficiently heavy to withstand wind and wave, while the open cribbing allowed the tide to ebb and flow freely without increasing tidal current. Some 10,000 tons of granite were used in the project. A concrete road (now part of Route 24) was built on top of the cribstones; a sidewalk was added in 1951 and guard rails in 1961. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and on July 19, 1984 the Bailey Island Bridge was recognized as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. This is the only granite cribstone bridge in the world.
Popham Beach State Park
10 Perkins Farm Lane, Phippsburg, ME 04562, 207.389.1335
Bordering the south side of the mouth of the Kennebec River, Popham Beach State Park is one of Maine's rare geologic landforms with a long stretch of sand beach. Sunbathers can see Fox and Wood islands offshore, and the Kennebec and Morse rivers border each end of the beach. Visitors can walk to Fox Island at low tide, but are warned to pay attention to the rising tides so as not to get marooned. More important: Recently sand movement and beach dynamics have had a dramatic effect on the beach, causing extreme shoreline change and dune erosion. Please call before planning your next visit to the beach or the adjacent 18th-century Fort Popham State Historic Site.
Reid State Park
375 Seguinland Road Georgetown, ME 04548, 207.371.2303
Reid State Park is Maine's first State-owned saltwater beach, a gift of Georgetown resident Walter E. Reid in 1946. Today, thousands of visitors enjoy the park's long, wide sand beaches like Mile and Half Mile. These are also essential nesting areas for endangered least terns and piping plovers, and resting and feeding areas for other shorebirds. Reid also features large sand dunes. From the top of Griffith Head, a rocky headland overlooking the park, visitors view sweeping seascapes and the lighthouses on Seguin Island, The Cuckolds, and Hendricks Head. Visitors can also spot several islands, including Damariscove, a thriving fishing community in Colonial times; Outer Head, protected as a tern sanctuary; and Southport, where noted naturalist Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring.
Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park
42 Wolfe's Neck Road, Freeport, ME 04031, 207.865.4465
As visitors approach the park, marshes and open fields provide a tranquil transition back to nature. The park contains varied ecosystems, including climax white pine and hemlock forests, a salt marsh estuary, and the rocky shorelines on Casco Bay and the Harraseeket River. Ospreys nest on nearby Googins Island; an interpretive panel on the trail explains the life cycle of this majestic, graceful bird which summers on the island and makes its annual trek to South America each fall. After discovering the trails independently or on a Guided Nature Program, visitors can enjoy picnics under a canopy of oak trees or a group barbecue at the park's shelter area.
To find out more about Brunswick-area trails and nature conservancies, such as the Bradley Pond Farm Preserve, Brunswick Town Commons, Captain Alfred S. Skolfield Preserve, Cathance River Nature Preserve, Cox Pinnacle, and Crystal Spring Farm Preserve, you may wish to contact these agencies.
Brunswick Parks & Recreation Department 207.725.6656
Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust 207.729.7694
Cathance River Education Alliance 207.798.1913
