Bagels, a New Bridge and the River Loop: A Weekend Morning in Lower Topsham

At 7:30 on a Friday morning, Knead & Nosh opens its doors at 4 Bowdoin Mill Island. Across the water, crews have spent most of 2026 taking the old Frank J. Wood Bridge apart piece by piece. The food is new and ready to go. The bridge is open to cars and people on foot, but the parks and overlooks planned for each end are still being built.

So this fall is a between-seasons stretch for the walk between the bridges. The coffee and bagels are already part of it. The finished riverfront isn't, at least not yet.

Two new breakfasts on the Topsham side

The first new stop is Morning Moose Coffee at 11 Main St. Morning Moose used to be a food truck based in Richmond. In early 2026 it moved into a former gas station in Topsham, serving coffee, mini donuts and breakfast sandwiches. It's a family operation run by co-founders Daniel Beall, his wife Lindsay, and her sisters Elsie and Olivia Winokurzew. Reports differ a little on the exact opening date. The Portland Press Herald said in late March that the cafe had started welcoming customers late the month before. WMTW placed the move in March. Either way, it's been pouring coffee on Main Street since about the time the ice went out.

The second stop is Knead & Nosh, Jeff Mao's bagel shop in the space where Blueberries Cafe used to be, just down the road from Sea Dog. Its history goes back further than its storefront. WJBQ reported that Knead & Nosh began in 2021 as a passion project built around cooking and baking classes on dough-based foods. Before the shop opened, the bagels came by subscription for pickup in Brunswick or at farmers' markets and pop-ups. The grand opening came on August 1, 2026.

The bagels are hand-rolled and New York-style. Flavors include plain, everything, sesame, poppy seed, rosemary-sea salt, sea salt, cinnamon-raisin, jalapeño and pumpernickel. The menu also has bao and a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich called The 1794.

The schedule tells you the shop has caught on. It opened three days a week, Friday through Sunday, with a stated plan to add Mondays. Its homepage now lists five days, Friday through Tuesday, 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The footer on the same site still lists Friday through Monday, so check before a Tuesday bagel run. Getting from three days to five in about ten weeks is a quick ramp-up for a small bakery.

Here's how the morning stops line up as of mid-October 2026:

The bottom row gives you the timing. Sea Dog opens at 11:30 and Knead & Nosh stays open until 2. A late start can take in bagels, the loop and lunch, all on the same short stretch of Bowdoin Mill Island.

The loop between the bridges

Coffee in hand, the walk is the Androscoggin Brunswick–Topsham Riverwalk. It's an in-town loop that crosses the river twice, once on the Frank J. Wood Bridge and once on the Swinging Bridge. The Riverwalk's own site puts the full loop at 1.25 miles. Maine Trail Finder rounds it to about 1.3. If you only want the Topsham side, Maine by Foot lists its Bridge-to-Bridge Trail at 0.7 miles. It rates the trail easy, notes that dogs are allowed, and names the Fort Andross mill and the hydro dam among the sights. The guide was last updated June 24, 2026.

One good order for a fall morning:

1. Start at Morning Moose on Main Street for coffee.
2. Walk down to Bowdoin Mill Island for bagels at Knead & Nosh.
3. Pick up the Topsham leg of the Riverwalk. Maine by Foot describes it as reaching the downstream bridge by sidewalk and through a parking lot.
4. Cross the new Frank J. Wood Bridge into Brunswick, go upstream, and come back over the Swinging Bridge. The Town of Topsham lists it as a dawn-to-dusk walking stop with river views. On the Brunswick end, Swinging Bridge Park has benches and limited parking.
5. Finish back on Bowdoin Mill Island at Sea Dog if it's after 11:30.

You can also walk the loop the other way and save the new bridge for last. That way the view downstream is the last thing you see before lunch.

What's still a work site on the new bridge

The new Frank J. Wood Bridge opened to two-way traffic on December 12, 2025. WMTW reported that it has sidewalks on both sides with viewing bump-outs, and that parks are planned at both ends. Opening day didn't finish the job, though. The bridge is 815 feet long, a four-span structure of steel plate girders and concrete. In April, New England Construction reported that the project was expected to wrap up in late 2026 or early 2027.

MaineDOT's monthly project log shows the year in stages:

• March 2026: Span 3 of the old bridge was fully demolished by the end of the month.
• April 2026: Crews removed all the old deck panels, started taking down structural steel, and installed pales on the new bridge's ornamental railings.
• May 2026: Span 2 demolition was finished and nearly all of Span 1 was gone. Concrete went in for the Brunswick Overlook Wall, catch basins were installed in Brunswick Park, and crews started installing the downstream bridge lights.

May is the most recent month in the log. On July 7, the Sun Journal ran an aerial photo of crews still removing the former bridge.

The parks will be finished last. In April, Reed & Reed, the contractor, expected work on the Brunswick-side park to begin in summer 2026. It projected the Topsham-side park would be complete by early spring 2027. The same report said one side's pedestrian walkway was finished and work was continuing on the other. MaineDOT had planned a ribbon-cutting for 2026. We couldn't find any confirmation that it has happened yet.

In practice, the Topsham end of the bridge, the one closest to the bagels, will probably be the last piece of riverfront to look finished. A lap this fall shows the work in progress, and a second lap next spring should show how much of it is done.

Timing a fall Saturday

Put the hours and the construction schedule together and a Saturday comes out like this. Morning Moose for coffee whenever you're up. Knead & Nosh any time after 7:30. The loop in daylight, since the Swinging Bridge is a dawn-to-dusk stop. Then Sea Dog once its doors open at 11:30. Mid-October days are shorter, so if you're planning an afternoon lap after lunch, keep an eye on the clock.

Morning Moose's fall hours weren't posted anywhere we checked. Knead & Nosh's own site doesn't quite agree with itself about Tuesdays. A quick look at each business's page before you head out will save a walk to a locked door.

I love seeing a neighborhood pick up new morning stops while the construction crews are still at work, and lower Topsham has done exactly that this year. If you're thinking about how the riverfront is changing on the Topsham side, or what it means for a home within walking distance of these spots, Tyra Hatcher would be glad to talk it through over coffee. Let's Connect.