Brunswick is a handsome Maine town where the Androscoggin River, Bowdoin College, and the old Midcoast road all meet. It has the look travelers hope for in New England: brick storefronts, white churches, big trees, and enough students to keep the town awake after dinner.
Bowdoin gives Brunswick its museums and much of its polish. Harriet Beecher Stowe lived here while writing Uncle Tom's Cabin, Joshua Chamberlain returned here after the Civil War, and the college campus still feels woven into the town rather than set apart from it.
The best way to use Brunswick is slowly. Walk Maine Street, cross the swinging bridge to Topsham, duck into a museum, then use the town as a base for Harpswell, Freeport, or the wider Midcoast.