If you’re familiar with Bowdoin, you’re probably familiar with the Russwurm African American Center. This house was constructed in 1827 and named after John Brown Russwurm, an 1826 graduate of Bowdoin and the first African American to receive a Bowdoin degree.
It didn’t take me long to realize that the Bowdoin campus is a goldmine for obscure references to the College’s history. Exhibit A: in the fall of my first year, I was strolling through the quad alongside my upperclassman friend as she told me about compass engravings—yes, you read that right—scattered throughout the landscape of the College as some sort of historical reference.
Everyone remembers something different about their first time on Bowdoin’s campus. Maybe it’s the stress of move-in day, the excitement of that one soccer game you watched as a prospective student or even running through the quad as a little kid on a sunny summer day.
When I was younger, I would go to my friend Clara’s house around Halloween to bake pumpkin pie, watch TV and tell scary stories with our friends. I remember huddling in a circle under a tent we’d made from sheets, taking turns narrating the eeriest, most haunting tales we could imagine.
It’s officially fall. Apple picking season has descended upon us, frisbees litter the quad and College House residents are finally settling into their castles on Maine Street. The same houses, I might add, which many years ago were home to fraternities; famous members of these organizations include William S.
My mom drinks from her Bowdoin coffee mug every morning. And she’s got the whole process down to a science. Grab mug, choose coffee flavor, shove mug into Keurig, wait. Pick mug up, walk over to comfy corner table, do crossword of the day and drink coffee.