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Main Street Bldg Chesterton IN 2012Photo: GKChest · CC BY-SA 3.0
AOutdoors
Outdoors in Chesterton

13% of Chesterton’s land is conserved: 798 acres

10 miles of mapped trail cross Chesterton, 1.1 per square mile of land. The biggest trail networks: Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve (4.1 mi). 90% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 89% of U.S. towns · #14 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

Conserved land
13%
798 acres · of 9.4 sq mi of land
Trails
10 mi
1.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
334 ac
23 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
90%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
4.6 mi
4.6 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
5

What kind of outdoors town is Chesterton?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Land that stays wild13% of the land is conserved; a typical Indiana town, 2%.A trail town1.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 82% of U.S. towns.Parks close to home90% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Chesterton have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Chesterton is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns, #14 of 593 in Indiana. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; conserved land ranks highest, park acres per resident lowest.

A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Chesterton’s overall grade.
Conserved land13% of the land · typical IN town 2% · U.S. 4%A−Trails1.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (10 mi) · IN 0.1 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land23 acres of park per 1,000 residents (334 acres) · IN 10 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home90% of residents within a half mile of a park · IN 51% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 89%
LessMore
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 98%

Few Indiana towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Chesterton’s 13% is ahead of 95% of Indiana towns, while its trails per square mile lead 95% of them.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would still be 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.

1234
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 Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve, with 4.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve

Park
145 acres4.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗

Dogwood Park

Park
55 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Keith Richard Walner Nature Preserve

Managed by Shirley Heinze Land trust
47 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗

J. Timothy Ritchie Nature Preserve

Managed by Shirley Heinze Land Trust
43 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
All 7 parks & preserves
Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve145 acres · 4.1 mi of trail
Directions
Dogwood Park55 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Directions
Chesterton Park8 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Directions
Keith Richard Walner Nature Preserve47 acres · Shirley Heinze Land trust
J. Timothy Ritchie Nature Preserve43 acres · Shirley Heinze Land Trust
Thomas Centennial Park2 acres
Directions
Indiana Dunes National Park1 acres · National Park Service
Who protects it

798 conserved acres

13% of Chesterton’s land. Who manages Chesterton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Private owners430 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits264 ac
Town or city102 ac
National Park Service1 ac
Private Park · 430 acPrivate Conservation · 264 acLocal Park · 102 acNational Park · 1 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Sand Creek Country Club
Private Park
Private owners323Open
Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve
Private Conservation
Land trusts & nonprofits264Closed
Brassie Golf Club
Private Park
Private owners108Open
Dogwood Park
Local Park
Town or city60Open
Coffee Creek Park
Local Park
Town or city13Open
Chesterton Park
Local Park
Town or city11Open
Crocker Park
Local Park
Town or city4Open
Waskom Park
Local Park
Town or city4Open
Thomas Centennial Park
Local Park
Town or city3Open
Robert L. Waskum Park
Local Park
Town or city3Open

5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.

Things to do

13 places to go in Chesterton

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Playgrounds in Chesterton
Dogwood Park PlaygroundIn Dogwood Park
Directions
Splash PadIn Chesterton Park
Directions

Plus 11 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.

Trails & water

5 lakes & rivers

Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Billington LakelakeChestnut LakesChubb LakeMorgan LakeCoffee Creek
Biking & sports

4.6 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

4.6 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
17Soccer
17Tennis
8Baseball
7Pickleball
5Tracks
4Basketball
3Football
2Beach volleyball

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

7 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.

History →
Coambs, Norris and Harriet, Lustron HouseBuilding · listed 1992
About it
George Brown MansionBuilding · listed 1998
About it
New York Central Railroad Passenger DepotBuilding · listed 1998
About it
Chesterton Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1999
About it
Martin Young HouseBuilding · listed 2007
About it
Chesterton Residential Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2009
About it
Read Dunes HouseBuilding · listed 2011
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Chesterton: April, July and 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.510.511.813.314.515.214.913.812.411.09.89.2
High (°F)323647597080838175634937
Rain (in)2.32.02.33.54.34.23.94.03.53.62.72.2

February is the driest month (2.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.3 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Chesterton →

Next door

Chesterton and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Westchester Township55 miPortage27 miLiberty Township15 miChesterton10 miPorter9.5 miBurns Harbor1.2 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Chesterton13%1.12390%A
Porter30%1.522999%+A+
Liberty Township5%0.66358%B+
Westchester Township32%1.729893%A+
Burns Harbor9%0.216285%A−
Portage13%1.15576%A

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Chesterton

Where can I hike in Chesterton?

The longest trail networks: Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve, 4.1 miles; Dogwood Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Chesterton is conserved land?

13% of its land, against a typical 2% for an Indiana town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Chesterton’s trails?

Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve and Dogwood Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Chesterton?

4.6 miles of bike routes are on the map: 4.6 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Chesterton?

18,331 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Chesterton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 334 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Chesterton have?

Ahead of 89% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #14 of 593 in Indiana. 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 Chesterton neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →