Kirk Wallace Complex
Managed by Sheffield Parks & Recreation
12 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Newman, E.L., Lustron House · Photo: themidnite · CC BY-SA 3.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Sheffield
12% of Sheffield’s land is conserved: 521 acres
47 acres are parks and preserves, 5.0 per 1,000 residents. 72% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 2.1 miles of mapped trail cross Sheffield, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 56% of U.S. towns · #28 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
Conserved land
12%
521 acres · of 7.0 sq mi of land
Trails
2.1 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
47 ac
5.0 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
72%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.2 mi
0.9 mi lanes · 0.3 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Sheffield?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Sheffield have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Sheffield is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns, #28 of 187 in Alabama. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Sheffield’s overall grade.
Conserved land12% of the land · typical AL town 1% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (2 mi) · AL 0.1 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land5.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (47 acres) · AL 8 · U.S. 13CParks close to home72% of residents within a half mile of a park · AL 36% · U.S. 72%B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 56%
LessMore
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 85%
Few Alabama towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Sheffield’s 12% is ahead of 95% of Alabama towns, while its trails per square mile lead 74% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Avalon Park
Park
8 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Rivermont Park
Park
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
521 conserved acres
12% of Sheffield’s land. Who manages Sheffield’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Tennessee Valley Authority494 ac
State natural resources26 ac
Town or city26 ac
Federal Other or Unknown · 494 acResource Management Area · 26 acLocal Park · 15 acLocal Recreation Area · 11 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 8 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pickwick Reservoir Retained Land Federal Other or Unknown | Tennessee Valley Authority | 494 | Unknown |
| State-owned Submerged Lands Resource Management Area | State natural resources | 26 | Open |
| Sheffield Youth Park Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 10 | Open |
| Rivermont Park Local Park | Town or city | 8 | Open |
| Unknown Park Local Park | Town or city | 4 | Open |
| 10Th Ave Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| York Terrace Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Tom Coburn Ball Fields Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
3 places to go in Sheffield
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Public pools in Sheffield
Sheffield Recreation Center Swimming Pool
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Sheffield
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Biking & sports
1.2 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.9 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
0.3 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
6Tennis
5Baseball
1Soccer
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →8 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Tuscumbia Landing SiteSite · listed 1982
About itNitrate Village No. 1 Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1984
About itChambers-Robinson HouseBuilding · listed 1993
About itNewman, E.L., Lustron HouseBuilding · listed 2000
About itSheffield Residential Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2002
About itMuscle Shoals Sound StudioBuilding · listed 2006
About itSheffield Downtown Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2010
About itMemphis & Charleston Railroad BridgeStructure · listed 2024
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Sheffield: 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 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 11.2 | 10.3 | 9.8 |
| High (°F) | 52 | 56 | 65 | 74 | 81 | 88 | 91 | 90 | 85 | 75 | 63 | 54 |
| Rain (in) | 5.0 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 5.8 |
September is the driest month (3.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 91 °F). 5.8 inches fall in December, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 91 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Sheffield →
Next door
Sheffield and its neighbors
Sheffield has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheffield | 12% | 0.3 | 5 | 72% | B |
| Muscle Shoals | 6% | 0.4 | 5 | 24% | C+ |
| Tuscumbia | 1% | 0.1 | 5 | 39% | C− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Sheffield
How much of Sheffield is conserved land?
12% 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.
Are dogs allowed on Sheffield’s trails?
Kirk Wallace Complex and Avalon Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Sheffield?
1.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.9 of painted or protected lanes and 0.3 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Sheffield?
17,072 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Sheffield or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 74 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Sheffield have?
Ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #28 of 187 in Alabama. 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 Sheffield neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
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 →