Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Sylvania
9% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.4 miles of mapped trail cross Sylvania. 15 acres are parks and preserves, 7.8 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 16% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Sylvania have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Sylvania is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; park acres per resident come closest.
Few Alabama towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Sylvania’s 1% is ahead of 61% of Alabama towns, while its trails per square mile lead 27% 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.
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
72 conserved acres
1% of Sylvania’s land. Who manages Sylvania’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeKalb County Public Fishing Lake State Recreation Area | State fish & wildlife | 60 | Restricted |
| Sylvania High School Athletic Fields Local Recreation Area | County | 12 | Open |
4 places to go in Sylvania
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
2 boat launches without a name on the map.
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
The best walking months in Sylvania: April to June
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) | 49 | 54 | 62 | 71 | 78 | 84 | 87 | 86 | 82 | 72 | 61 | 52 |
| Rain (in) | 5.5 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 5.7 |
October is the driest month (3.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 5.7 inches fall in December, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Sylvania →
Sylvania and its neighbors
Sylvania has the second most mapped trails of the 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sylvania | 1% | under 0.1 | 8 | 9% | C− |
| Rainsville | under 1% | 0.1 | 10 | 32% | C− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Sylvania
How much of Sylvania 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.
Are dogs allowed on Sylvania’s trails?
Sylvania Town Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Sylvania?
5,436 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Sylvania or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 15 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Sylvania have?
Ahead of 16% 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 Sylvania 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 →