Quinebaug Wildlife Area
Managed by State of Connecticut
649 acres5.4 mi of trail
Sugar Brook Loop TrailSugar Brook Snowshoe LoopSugar Brook Loop Trail / Snowshoe Loop
Dogs allowed
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Plainfield
14% of Plainfield’s land is conserved: 3,686 acres
The biggest trail networks: Quinebaug Wildlife Area (5.4 mi), Lockes Meadow Pond Wildlife Area (1 mi), Tillinghast Preserve (0.6 mi). 23 miles of mapped trail cross Plainfield, 0.5 per square mile of land. 107 acres are parks and preserves, 7.1 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 59% of U.S. towns · #143 of 155 in Connecticut. What drives it
Conserved land
14%
3,686 acres · of 42.4 sq mi of land
Trails
23 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
107 ac
7.1 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
50%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.4 mi
2.4 mi paths
Highest peak
571 ft
Pachaug Hill
Lakes & rivers
13
1 beach
What kind of outdoors town is Plainfield?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Plainfield have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Plainfield is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #143 of 155 in Connecticut. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Plainfield’s overall grade.
Conserved land14% of the land · typical CT town 15% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (23 mi) · CT 1.4 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land7.1 acres of park per 1,000 residents (107 acres) · CT 22 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home50% of residents within a half mile of a park · CT 57% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 59%
LessMore
Connecticut towns of 2,500+ (155)Ahead of 8%
Connecticut towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 15%; the U.S., 4%), so Plainfield’s 14% is ahead of 43% of Connecticut towns, while its trails per square mile lead 8% 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
The longest trail network is Quinebaug Wildlife Area, with 5.4 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Lockes Meadow Pond Wildlife Area
Managed by State of Connecticut
154 acres1 mi of trail
Pachaug Enduro Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Tillinghast Preserve
Managed by Wyndham Land Trust
34 acres0.6 mi of trail
Sugar Brook Loop Trail
Dogs allowed
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Quinebaug Fish Hatchery
Managed by State of Connecticut
409 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
All 15 parks & preserves
Quinebaug Wildlife Area649 acres · 5.4 mi of trail · State of Connecticut
DirectionsLockes Meadow Pond Wildlife Area154 acres · 1 mi of trail · State of Connecticut
Tillinghast Preserve34 acres · 0.6 mi of trail · Wyndham Land Trust
DirectionsMoosup Park10 acres · 0.4 mi of trail
DirectionsQuinebaug Fish Hatchery409 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · State of Connecticut
DirectionsMoosup Valley State Park Trail22 acres · 0.2 mi of trail · State of Connecticut
DirectionsPachaug Outdoor Club155 acres · Pachaug Outdoor Club
Snake Meadow Club127 acres · Snake Meadow Club, Inc.
Rainville Preserve25 acres · Wyndham Land Trust
Chiampa Preserve22 acres · Wyndham Land Trust
J. Arthur Atwood Memorial Field5 acres · Town of Plainfield
Lions Park4 acres · Town of Plainfield
DirectionsFitze Preserve4 acres · Wyndham Land Trust
Old Furnace State Park3 acres · State of Connecticut
Moosup Veterans Park1 acres
DirectionsWho protects it
3,686 conserved acres
14% of Plainfield’s land. Who manages Plainfield’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Other state land125 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)60 ac
Town or city31 ac
Not recorded3,476 ac
State Resource Management Area · 1,415 acState Conservation Area · 789 acPrivate Conservation · 472 acState Other or Unknown · 414 acLocal Other or Unknown · 321 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 175 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 65 of 77 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pachaug State Forest State Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 1,415 | Unknown |
| Unknown Private Conservation | Not recorded | 780 | Unknown |
| Quinebaug Wildlife Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 634 | Unknown |
| Quinebaug Fish Hatchery State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 414 | Unknown |
| Lockes Meadow Pond Wildlife Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 155 | Unknown |
| Oates Cedar Swamp Preserve Private Conservation | Not recorded | 53 | Unknown |
| Moosup Valley State Park Trail State Park | Not recorded | 18 | Unknown |
| Moosup Playground Local Park | Town or city | 10 | Open |
| Plainfield Little League Field Complex Local Park | Town or city | 8 | Open |
| Lathrop Brook Buffer Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 5 | Unknown |
5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
16 places to go in Plainfield
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Plainfield
Moosup Pond Beach
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Plainfield
6 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Fishing spots in Plainfield
Trout HatcheryIn Quinebaug Fish Hatchery
DirectionsPeaks in Plainfield
Pachaug Hill571 ft elevation · In Lockes Meadow Pond Wildlife Area
DirectionsWebb Hill561 ft elevation
DirectionsHalf Hill Rock548 ft elevation
DirectionsHopkins Hill479 ft elevation
DirectionsHolmes Hill472 ft elevation
DirectionsWithey Hill413 ft elevation
DirectionsBlack Hill361 ft elevation
DirectionsShepherd Hill344 ft elevation
DirectionsTrails & water
4 named trails and 13 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Open to bikes · 8.6 miHorses · 9.3 miUnpaved · 7.5 mi
Sugar Brook Loop Trail3.3 mi
Pachaug Enduro Trail2.0 mi
Sugar Brook Snowshoe Loop1.7 mi
Sugar Brook Loop Trail / Snowshoe Loop0.7 mi
Biking & sports
2.4 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
2.4 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
12Baseball
4Basketball
4Tennis
2Soccer
2Skate park
2Football
2Softball
1Volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →11 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 8 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
Wauregan Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1979
About itPlainfield Woolen Company MillBuilding · listed 1985
About itFirst Congregational Church of PlainfieldBuilding · listed 1986
About itPlainfield Street Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1991
About itCentral Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1991
About itPackerville BridgeStructure · listed 1992
About itAldrich Free Public LibraryBuilding · listed 1994
About itLawton Mills Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1996
About itGlen Falls BridgeStructure · listed 1999
About itMarch Route of Rochambeau's Army: Old Canterbury RoadDistrict · listed 2003
About itMarch Route of Rochambeau's Army: Plainfield PikeDistrict · listed 2003
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Plainfield: May to September
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) | 9.5 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.2 | 14.9 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 37 | 39 | 47 | 59 | 69 | 77 | 82 | 81 | 74 | 63 | 52 | 42 |
| Rain (in) | 3.8 | 3.1 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 3.9 | 4.5 |
February is the driest month (3.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 4.6 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Plainfield →
Next door
Plainfield and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Voluntown83 miGriswold34 miPlainfield23 miKillingly22 miSterling15 miCanterbury11 miBrooklyn5.9 miWauregan2.1 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plainfield | 14% | 0.5 | 7 | 50% | B |
| Canterbury | 5% | 0.3 | 13 | 18% | C+ |
| Brooklyn | 9% | 0.2 | 14 | 39% | B− |
| Wauregan | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Sterling | 24% | 0.5 | 19 | 31% | B+ |
| Killingly | 11% | 0.5 | 52 | 46% | B+ |
| Voluntown | 67% | 2.1 | 122 | 32% | A |
| Griswold | 29% | 1.0 | 146 | 65% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Plainfield
Where can I hike in Plainfield?
The longest trail networks: Quinebaug Wildlife Area, 5.4 miles; Lockes Meadow Pond Wildlife Area, 1 miles; Tillinghast Preserve, 0.6 miles; Moosup Park, 0.4 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Plainfield is conserved land?
14% of its land, against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Plainfield’s trails?
OpenStreetMap records dogs as welcome at Quinebaug Wildlife Area and Tillinghast Preserve. For the rest, check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Plainfield?
2.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.4 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Plainfield?
10,307 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Plainfield or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 107 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Plainfield have?
Ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #143 of 155 in Connecticut. 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 Plainfield 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 →