The Museum of Art, Brian Wedge Photography

The Downeaster train, photo by Michele Stapleton

While the Associated Press calls Brunswick a “good destination for history buffs,” it also acknowledges the town’s lively restaurant scene, first-rate art museum and other attractions that make it, according to the Smithsonian Magazine, one of America’s best small towns in 2012. The AP credits Bowdoin College with adding luster to the town, attracting many luminaries here from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to William Wegman.

The article recommends visitors stop by the Joshua Chamberlain house, First Parish Church, Skolfield-Whittier House, Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and the new Wegman exhibition at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. “For those tempted to dismiss Wegman as a gimmicky photographer who, as one passer-by was overheard to say, takes pictures of “dogs in dresses,” this show may change your mind,” AP Travel Editor Beth J. Harpaz writes.

And Harpaz adds that the Downeaster train, which is expected to start service between Brunswick and Boston in November, will further enhance Brunswick’s “really bright future.”