Columbus Square
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0A+Outdoors
Outdoors in Darien
More than half of Darien’s land is conserved: 63%
63% of Darien’s land is conserved, about 8,525 acres. 8,544 acres are parks and preserves, 5,885 per 1,000 residents. 88% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 97% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
63%
8,525 acres · of 21.2 sq mi of land
Trails
13 mi
0.6 per sq mi of land
Park land
8,544 ac
5,885 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
88%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Darien?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Darien have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Darien is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; park acres per resident rank highest, trail miles lowest.
A+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Darien’s overall grade.
Conserved land63% of the land · typical GA town 2% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (13 mi) · GA 0.2 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land5,885 acres of park per 1,000 residents (8,544 acres) · GA 9 · U.S. 13A+Parks close to home88% of residents within a half mile of a park · GA 56% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 97%
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Few Georgia towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Darien’s 63% is ahead of 100% of Georgia towns, while its trails per square mile lead 79% of them.
Water is 12% of Darien’s area (3 of 24 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 56%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. 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.
Who protects it
8,525 conserved acres
63% of Darien’s land. Water is left out: Darien has 21.2 square miles of land and 2.9 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Darien’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources17,019 ac
County10 ac
Town or city5 ac
Unknown Easement · 8,506 acState Conservation Area · 8,501 acState Historic or Cultural Area · 10 acLocal Recreation Area · 10 acLocal Park · 5 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 3 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 11 of 19 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altamaha Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 8,501 | Open |
| Fort King George Historic Site State Historic or Cultural Area | State natural resources | 10 | Open |
| McIntosh/Darien Rec Facility Local Recreation Area | County | 10 | Open |
| Jefferson Square Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Cathead Creek Boat Ramp Access Area | State natural resources | 2 | Open |
| Vernon Square Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Franklin Square Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
6 places to go in Darien
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Darien
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Boat launches in Darien
2 boat launches without a name on the map.
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
3Tennis
2Baseball
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →4 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 1 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
When to get out
The best walking months in Darien: 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) | 10.3 | 11.0 | 11.9 | 12.9 | 13.7 | 14.2 | 14.0 | 13.3 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.5 | 10.1 |
| High (°F) | 62 | 65 | 71 | 77 | 84 | 89 | 92 | 90 | 86 | 79 | 71 | 64 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 6.0 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 5.4 | 4.1 | 2.1 | 2.9 |
November is the driest month (2.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 92 °F). 6.5 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 92 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Darien →
Questions about parks and trails in Darien
How much of Darien is conserved land?
63% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Georgia town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Darien’s trails?
Columbus Square and Vernon Square don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Darien?
73,474 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Darien or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 8,544 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Darien have?
Ahead of 97% 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 Darien 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 →