Few parks or trails are on the map in Brookside
39 acres are parks and preserves, 24 per 1,000 residents. 35% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 24% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Brookside have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Brookside is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
Few Alabama towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Brookside’s 1% is ahead of 48% of Alabama towns, while its trails per square mile lead 7% of them.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
39 conserved acres
1% of Brookside’s land. Who manages Brookside’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Bensko Park Local Park | Town or city | 30 | Open |
| Greenway Park Local Park | Town or city | 8 | Open |
1 places to go in Brookside
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
1.6 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
The best walking months in Brookside: April and May
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 10.1 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 13.9 | 14.4 | 14.2 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 9.9 |
| High (°F) | 54 | 59 | 67 | 75 | 82 | 88 | 91 | 91 | 86 | 76 | 65 | 57 |
| Rain (in) | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 5.2 |
October is the driest month (3.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 91 °F). 5.5 inches fall in February, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 91 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Brookside →
Brookside and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brookside | 1% | under 0.1 | 24 | 35% | C− |
| Adamsville | 1% | 0.1 | 17 | 43% | C |
| Cardiff | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Birmingham | 4% | 0.5 | 22 | 77% | B+ |
| Gardendale | under 1% | 0.1 | 5 | 14% | D |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Brookside
How much of Brookside is conserved land?
1% of its land, against a typical 1% for an Alabama town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Where can I bike in Brookside?
1.6 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.6 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Brookside?
4,210 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Brookside or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 39 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Brookside have?
Ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Brookside neighbors.
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →