Paula Park
Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Ballard School · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Dock Junction
Dock Junction has 30 acres of parks, 3.7 for every 1,000 residents
0.8 miles of mapped trail cross Dock Junction, 0.1 per square mile of land. 54% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 20% of U.S. towns · #225 of 264 in Georgia. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
40 acres · of 9.4 sq mi of land
Trails
0.8 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
30 ac
3.7 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
54%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
2
1 beach · 1 boat launch
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Dock Junction have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Dock Junction is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns, #225 of 264 in Georgia. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; the share of residents near a park comes closest.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Dock Junction’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical GA town 2% · U.S. 4%CTrails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · GA 0.2 · U.S. 0.4CPark land3.7 acres of park per 1,000 residents (30 acres) · GA 9 · U.S. 13CParks close to home54% of residents within a half mile of a park · GA 56% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 20%
LessMore
Georgia towns of 2,500+ (264)Ahead of 15%
Few Georgia towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Dock Junction’s 1% is ahead of 22% of Georgia towns, while its trails per square mile lead 25% of them.
Water is 11% of Dock Junction’s area (1 of 11 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 1%.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Dock Junction. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would still be C−. 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.
Arco Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
40 conserved acres
1% of Dock Junction’s land. Water is left out: Dock Junction has 9.4 square miles of land and 1.2 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Dock Junction’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County27 ac
Army Corps of Engineers13 ac
Local Recreation Area · 16 acUnknown Easement · 13 acLocal Park · 11 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 13 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 9 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballard Park Local Recreation Area | County | 11 | Open |
| Paulk Field Park Local Recreation Area | County | 5 | Open |
| Ellis Point Park Local Park | County | 4 | Open |
| Madge Merritt Local Park | County | 3 | Open |
| Arco Park Local Park | County | 2 | Open |
| Seldon Park Local Park | County | 1 | Open |
Things to do
9 places to go in Dock Junction
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Dock Junction
1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Playgrounds in Dock Junction
7 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Boat launches in Dock Junction
1 boat launch without a name on the map.
Trails & water
2 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
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
5Baseball
2Basketball
1Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Ballard SchoolBuilding · listed 2004
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Dock Junction: 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) | 63 | 67 | 73 | 79 | 85 | 90 | 92 | 91 | 86 | 80 | 72 | 65 |
| Rain (in) | 3.6 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 6.2 | 5.3 | 6.7 | 5.7 | 4.1 | 2.1 | 2.9 |
November is the driest month (2.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 92 °F). 6.7 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 92 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Dock Junction →
Next door
Dock Junction and its neighbors
Dock Junction 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dock Junction | 1% | 0.1 | 4 | 54% | C− |
| Brunswick | 1% | 0.3 | 14 | 92% | B− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Dock Junction
How much of Dock Junction is conserved land?
1% 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 Dock Junction’s trails?
Paula Park and Arco Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Dock Junction?
32,141 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Dock Junction or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 30 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Dock Junction have?
Ahead of 20% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #225 of 264 in Georgia. 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 Dock Junction 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 →