BRUNSWICK, ME - AUGUST 6: Six sculptures worth seeing in the midcoast area, including a Joshua Chamberlain statue at the entrance to the Bowdoin campus in Brunswick. (Photo by Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

Press Herald via Getty Images

Bowdoin College

Midcoast Maine


Bowdoin, established in 1794, is one of the oldest colleges in the US and the alma mater of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne and US president Franklin Pierce. For a tour of the handsome campus, follow the signs from Maine St to Moulton Union. Smith Union is the student center; there's an information desk on the mezzanine, as well as a cafe, pub, lounge and small art gallery.

To find the free museums on campus, look for the large flagpole.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Midcoast Maine attractions

1. Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum

0.03 MILES

This small but fascinating campus museum holds memorabilia from the expeditions of Robert Peary and Donald MacMillan, Bowdoin alumni who were among the…

2. Bowdoin College Museum of Art

0.03 MILES

Set in a 19th-century building with a dramatic glass entrance pavilion, this campus art museum is small but impressive. The 20,000-piece collection is…

3. Joshua L Chamberlain Museum

0.2 MILES

This house museum exhibits artifacts from the late owner, who led one of the USA's great, eventful lives – first a college professor, then Civil War hero,…

4. Pejepscot Museum

0.43 MILES

Under the remit of the Pejepscot Historical Society, the Pejepscot Museum displays changing exhibits relating to Brunswick history, with photographs and…

5. Skolfield-Whittier House

0.43 MILES

Skolfield-Whittier House, a 17-room brick mansion adjacent to the Pejepscot Museum, is a virtual time capsule: it was closed off from 1925 to 1982…

6. Maine Maritime Museum

7.43 MILES

There's a palpable mix of reflective nostalgia and horizon-scanning adventure at this wonderful museum, which preserves the Kennebec's long shipbuilding…

7. Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park

8.95 MILES

Just outside Freeport, this park has 5 miles of easy hiking trails, including a scenic shoreline walk that skirts Casco Bay. To reach the park, take Bow…

8. Desert of Maine

10.15 MILES

William Tuttle came to Freeport in 1797 to farm potatoes, but his deadly combination of clear-cutting and overgrazing caused enough erosion to expose the…