The Brunswick Town Commons
By their vote of May 8, 1719, the Pejepscot Proprietors "Granted one thousand acres of land to lay in general commonage." Unlike the village green or town common found in the center of many New England towns, the Brunswick Town Commons was a specific grant from the private lands of the Pejepscot Co., and not from town-owned common and undivided land.
Located near the geographic center of town, the Commons has influenced the growth of the Brunswick region. Upon the promise of two hundred acres of land from the Commons, Bowdoin College was established in Brunswick. In the late 1800's the Town appropriated money to plant and cultivate blueberries on the Commons.
Granite monuments placed in 1891 by D. E. Campbell, Civil Engineer, marked all angle changes of the boundaries. Monument E marks the south western corner and is located in the Peat Heath. Five more of the historic granite markers are located within the boundaries of the Naval Air Station.
In 1905 the Town began a planting and management program for White Pines and Red Oaks. In 1930 Brunswick voted to establish an airport on the Commons and the first aircraft landed in June, 1934. Later known as the Brunswick Municipal Airport, this land was the nucleus of what is now the Brunswick Naval Air Station.
Today the Commons provides year-round recreational opportunities for Brunswick citizens and serves as a living laboratory for local elementary school children.
The Town Commons Planning Committee oversees the general management of the Commons, but policy decisions are by vote of the Town Council as "successors in office" of Nathaniel Larrabee, Andrew Dunning, and William Stanwood, Selectmen at the time of the Pejepscot Proprietors' grant.
The Town recognized the unique status of the Commons in the Town Commons Resolution adopted February 1968, which states, "We, the Selectmen of the Town of Brunswick, being mindful of the history and heritage of our Town; respectful of the inspiring wisdom of the first Planners of our community; and proud of the part they have played in preserving to our use a portion of the lands with which they were so richly endowed knowing full well our later needs in that respect; do declare that the Commons (thousand acres) is an HISTORIC LANDMARK."
Lovely public woods with well maintained paths.
The Brunswick Town Commons is a relatively unknown woodland (it is not usually marked on maps) that is all that remains of the original 1000 acres given to the town in perpetuity. (The rest of the original Town Commons was taken to make the Naval Air Station at Brunswick.) There is a small parking area at its entrance on the west side of route 123 (1.6 miles from route 24.) Some history from the website:
(http://www.brunswickme.org/commons/index.html)
As a separate excursion, if you like narrow out-of-the-way trails take the one to Monument E but not when the ground is wet!
Team Teebow 
Come visit with us @.....
http://www.geocachingmaine.org