Waterville is our nearest city — ten minutes east of Oakland — and it has changed a great deal in the last decade. The Kennebec waterfront has been reopened, downtown has filled back up, and there is now a genuine arts scene attached to a very old mill town.
If you are staying with us and want an evening off the water, this is where you go.
Art and performance
The Colby College Museum of Art is free to visit and holds one of the finest college collections in the country — more than 9,000 works from ancient to contemporary, with a particularly strong body of work by Alex Katz. It is an easy hour, and a very good one if the weather turns.
The Paul J. Schupf Art Center, opened in 2022, brought the Maine Film Center, the Ticonic Gallery and the restored 800-seat Waterville Opera House together under one roof. The Opera House itself has been running since 1902.
The river
Head of Falls is the riverfront park on the Kennebec, with the RiverWalk running along it. Crossing from it is the Two Cent Bridge — a pedestrian bridge originally built so mill workers could get from their neighbourhoods to the factories, at a charge of a penny each way. It was rebuilt higher and sturdier in 1903, and the toll gave it its name.
It is a short walk and a direct line into what this town used to be.
Trips we run near Waterville
- The Shawmut Section. One of two options on our Kennebec float fishing page, and the closest float water to town.
- Central Maine streams fly fishing. Our guided wade fishing page runs a Central Maine streams option built around exactly this country.
- Belgrade Lakes canoe fishing. Fifteen minutes west. See our lake and pond trips.
- The Waterfall Circuit. A guided hiking day on our recreational trips page, and the right choice for a mixed group.
Outdoors in town
Two things here that most visitors never find, both a few minutes from downtown:
- Quarry Road Trails — two miles from the centre of Waterville, on land the city bought in 2008 that was once the Colby College ski slope. There are roughly 13km of groomed Nordic trails and 8km of singletrack, used for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter and mountain biking, running and walking the rest of the year. The climb to the top of the old ski area is worth it for the view.
- Perkins Arboretum — 128 acres on the Colby campus, with public trails running through birch, maple and oak. Quiet, free, and about twenty minutes of walking if you want it to be.
Between them they make Waterville a genuinely good base rather than just somewhere to sleep and eat.
Hunting: WMD 23
Waterville sits in Wildlife Management District 23; cross the river west into Oakland and Belgrade and you are in WMD 16. Confirm your zone on the MDIFW district descriptions.
- Deer hunting — stand and blind, traditional mobile tracking, or semi-guided stand placement.
- Turkey — full and half day guided hunts through this farm country.
- Nuisance wildlife removal — we work Waterville and the surrounding towns year-round.
We do not list a lodging partner in Waterville itself, because the town is well served by hotels. For something with more character, see the Oakland and Belgrade guides below, or our lodging page for the properties we recommend elsewhere in the state.
Where to eat
- Front & Main — in the lobby of the Lockwood Hotel, farm-to-table, looking out over Main Street.
- The Oak and Ember — wood-fired cooking and craft cocktails.
- Amici’s Cucina — family-run Italian with a full gluten-free menu alongside the standard one.
- Mainely Brews — the local brewery and restaurant.
- Grand Central — a lively downtown bar and restaurant.
- Holy Cannoli — scratch pastries and lunch, for the middle of the day.
History
Waterville grew on the Kennebec as a mill town, and the immigrant neighbourhoods that supplied the mills are the reason the Two Cent Bridge exists. Colby College was founded here in 1813 and moved up to Mayflower Hill in the twentieth century; its investment back into downtown is a large part of why the centre looks the way it does now.
Where to stay
Waterville is the practical base for the region: the Lockwood Hotel downtown, plus the full range of chain hotels near the I-95 interchange. It also carries the hospital, the groceries and the late-opening pharmacy, which matters more than it sounds when you are a week into a trip.
For something with more character, look ten minutes west — see our guide to Oakland and our guide to the Belgrade Lakes.
Making a trip of it
Fish in the morning, museum or RiverWalk in the afternoon, dinner downtown. Waterville is the piece that makes a Central Maine trip work for a group where not everyone wants to be on the water all day.
See our fishing trips and recreational trips, or get in touch.
Sources
- While You’re Here — Colby College’s own guide to Waterville for visitors.
- Insider Tips for Visiting Waterville — Maine Magazine, for the Two Cent Bridge toll history.
We are not affiliated with any of the businesses named above, and none of these are paid placements.