Brunswick, Topsham Back Pejepscot Falls Bridge Name Honoring Indigenous History

Brunswick and Topsham have jointly backed naming their newly opened Androscoggin River crossing the Pejepscot Falls Bridge, a choice that reaches back centuries to honor the Abenaki people who fished and lived at the falls long before European settlement reshaped the region.

The Brunswick Town Council voted to approve the recommendation on April 6, completing a two-town consensus with the Topsham Select Board, which had already given its own approval. The proposal now advances to the Maine Legislature, which holds final naming authority over state-owned bridges.

The recommendation originated with the Brunswick-Topsham Bridge Design Advisory Committee, a panel of residents from both towns that oversaw the replacement of the nearly 100-year-old Frank J. Wood Bridge. Committee members and local historical organizations rallied around "Pejepscot," an Abenaki name used historically to describe this stretch of the lower Androscoggin. The word has been translated variously as "long, rocky rapids" and "crooked like a diving snake," both descriptions tied to the geography that made the falls a central gathering and fishing site for generations of Indigenous inhabitants.

Larissa Picard, executive director of the Pejepscot History Center, wrote to the Brunswick Town Council in support of the name, calling the word "evocative and meaningful" and describing it as an invitation to learn local history.

The bridge opened in December, the result of a construction project that began in April 2023. It replaced the Frank J. Wood Bridge, a 1932 span that became the subject of preservation lawsuits and controversy after MaineDOT cited its safety and condition ratings as justification for removal. While those disputes centered on saving the old structure, the naming process has redirected the conversation toward what the new crossing should represent.

The Pejepscot name places the bridge within a statewide and national reckoning over how public infrastructure commemorates history and which stories get embedded in the everyday language of a place. Supporters framed approval as a chance for residents and visitors alike to connect the bridge site to its pre-colonial identity, one written into the river's own geography.

Legislative approval will make the designation official, but the unanimous backing from both municipalities leaves little doubt about where the two communities stand on the question.