Photo: en:User:LymanSchool (Richard B. Johnson) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Outdoors in East Brookfield

East Brookfield has 1,322 acres of parks, 610 for every 1,000 residents

26% of East Brookfield’s land is conserved, about 1,612 acres. 6.8 miles of mapped trail cross East Brookfield, 0.7 per square mile of land. 84% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 95% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land

26%

1,612 acres · of 9.9 sq mi of land

Trails

6.8 mi

0.7 per sq mi of land

Park land

1,322 ac

610 acres per 1,000 residents

Near a park

84%

of residents within ½ mile

Highest peak

1,017 ft

Doane Hill

Lakes & rivers

What kind of outdoors town is East Brookfield?

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

Room to roam610 acres of park per 1,000 residents; the typical U.S. town has 13.Land that stays wild26% of the land is conserved; a typical Massachusetts town, 21%.Parks close to home84% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does East Brookfield have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, East Brookfield is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; park acres per resident rank highest, the share of residents near a park lowest.

OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of East Brookfield’s overall grade.

Conserved land26% of the land · typical MA town 21% · U.S. 4%A Trails0.7 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (7 mi) · MA 1.9 · U.S. 0.4B⁺Park land610 acres of park per 1,000 residents (1,322 acres) · MA 91 · U.S. 13A⁺Parks close to home84% of residents within a half mile of a park · MA 93% · U.S. 72%B⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 95%

LessMore

Massachusetts towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 21%; the U.S., 4%), so East Brookfield’s 26% is ahead of 64% of Massachusetts towns, while its trails per square mile lead 10% of them.

Water is 5% of East Brookfield’s area (1 of 10 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 24%.

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.

Hitchcock Mountain Wildlife Conservation Easement

Nature preserve

482 acres

Dog rules not recorded

No trailhead mapped yet

Quaboag Wildlife Management Area

Nature preserve

335 acres

Dog rules not recorded

No trailhead mapped yet

Conservation Land

Nature preserve

34 acres

Dog rules not recorded

Directionsto the parking lot

Podunk Marsh

Nature preserve

10 acres

Dog rules not recorded

No trailhead mapped yet

All 6 parks & preserves

Hitchcock Mountain Wildlife Conservation Easement482 acres

Quaboag Wildlife Management Area335 acres

Conservation Land34 acres

Directions

Podunk Marsh10 acres

Town Land7 acres

Directions

Seven Mile River Parcel5 acres

Who protects it

1,612 conserved acres

26% of East Brookfield’s land. Water is left out: East Brookfield has 9.9 square miles of land and 0.6 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages East Brookfield’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State fish & wildlife623 ac

State natural resources612 ac

State conservation38 ac

State parks37 ac

Town or city2 ac

Not recorded947 ac

Conservation Easement · 1,262 acState Conservation Area · 633 acLocal Other or Unknown · 158 acPrivate Conservation · 64 acPrivate Other or Unknown · 56 ac

Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 655 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels

Parcel (PAD-US)	Managed by	Acres	Public access
Quaboag Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area	Not recorded	363	Open
Hitchcock Mountain Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area	Not recorded	270	Open
Pelletier Conservation Area Local Other or Unknown	Not recorded	113	Open
Frank Day YMCA Camp Private Conservation	Not recorded	64	Restricted
Baypath Golf Course Private Other or Unknown	Not recorded	56	Restricted
Town of East Brookfield Local Other or Unknown	Not recorded	29	Open
East Brookfield Water Supply Land Watershed Protection Area	Not recorded	17	Closed
Seven Mile River Parcel Local Other or Unknown	Not recorded	10	Open
East Brookfield Rookery (Hildreth) State Resource Management Area	State fish & wildlife	10	Open
Evergreen Cemetery Local Historic or Cultural Area	Not recorded	8	Open

5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.

Things to do

7 places to go in East Brookfield

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

Peaks in East Brookfield

Doane Hill1,017 ft elevation

Directions

Wheelock Hill965 ft elevation

Directions

Carpenter Hill899 ft elevation

Directions

Stone Hill866 ft elevation

Directions

Teneriffe Hill850 ft elevation

Directions

Trails & water

4 named trails and 4 lakes & rivers

Named trails

Open to bikes · 0.9 miHorses · 0.9 miUnpaved · 2.7 mi

Hitchcock Mountain Trail1.8 mi

North Brookfield Rail Trail0.9 mi

Large Loop Trail0.8 mi

Small Loop Trail0.8 mi

Lakes & rivers tap for directions

Claypit Pondpond Mud Pondpond Dunn Brook East Brookfield River

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

4Baseball

1Basketball

1Tennis

1Soccer

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

When to get out

The best walking months in East Brookfield: 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)	9.4	10.5	11.8	13.3	14.6	15.2	15.0	13.9	12.4	11.0	9.7	9.1
High (°F)	34	37	45	57	68	76	81	80	73	61	50	39
Rain (in)	3.7	3.3	4.1	4.2	3.7	4.4	4.0	4.4	4.2	4.9	3.9	4.4

February is the driest month (3.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 4.9 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in East Brookfield →

Next door

East Brookfield and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Sturbridge82 mi Charlton35 mi Brookfield12 mi East Brookfield6.8 mi North Brookfield4.5 mi

Town	Conserved of land	Trail mi per sq mi	Park acres per 1,000	Near a park ½ mile	Outdoors
East Brookfield	26%	0.7	610	84%	A
Brookfield	35%	0.8	778	83%	A⁺
North Brookfield	16%	0.2	203	77%	A⁻
Charlton	11%	0.8	100	64%	A
Sturbridge	29%	2.2	520	76%	A⁺

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

Questions about parks and trails in East Brookfield

How much of East Brookfield is conserved land?

26% of its land, against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on East Brookfield’s trails?

Hitchcock Mountain Wildlife Conservation Easement and Quaboag Wildlife Management Area don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near East Brookfield?

31,515 acres of parks and open public land lie inside East Brookfield or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1,333 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does East Brookfield have?

Ahead of 95% 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 East Brookfield 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 →

Post to East Brookfield

Check your email

East Brookfield has 1,322 acres of parks, 610 for every 1,000 residents

What kind of outdoors town is East Brookfield?

How much outdoors does East Brookfield have?

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Pick a walk

Hitchcock Mountain Wildlife Conservation Easement

Quaboag Wildlife Management Area

Conservation Land

Podunk Marsh

1,612 conserved acres

7 places to go in East Brookfield

4 named trails and 4 lakes & rivers

0.0 miles of bike routes

The best walking months in East Brookfield: May to September

East Brookfield and its neighbors

Questions about parks and trails in East Brookfield

Trail talk

Where this page comes from