Wilson Park
Park
12 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Galesville
5% of Galesville’s land is conserved: 45 acres
35 acres are parks and preserves, 33 per 1,000 residents. 84% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.2 miles of mapped trail cross Galesville, 0.2 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
5%
45 acres · of 1.3 sq mi of land
Trails
0.2 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
35 ac
33 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
84%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Galesville?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Galesville have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Galesville is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Galesville’s overall grade.
Conserved land5% of the land · typical MD town 9% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · MD 0.5 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land33 acres of park per 1,000 residents (35 acres) · MD 9 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home84% of residents within a half mile of a park · MD 87% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 66%
LessMore
Maryland towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 9%; the U.S., 4%), so Galesville’s 5% is ahead of 29% of Maryland towns, while its trails per square mile lead 18% of them.
Water is 22% of Galesville’s area (0 of 2 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 4%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B 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.
Galesville Park
Park
7 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Avalon Park
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
45 conserved acres
5% of Galesville’s land. Water is left out: Galesville has 1.3 square miles of land and 0.4 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Galesville’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County35 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government7 ac
Other state land6 ac
Local Park · 34 acConservation Easement · 6 acHistoric or Cultural Easement · 6 acForest Stewardship Easement · 2 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 11 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 12 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Sox Field At Wilson Park Local Park | County | 26 | Open |
| Galesville Park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 7 | Open |
| Galesville Wharf Local Park | County | 1 | Open |
Things to do
4 places to go in Galesville
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Galesville
4 boat launches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
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
2Tennis
1Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →3 places on the National Register, one a National Historic Landmark
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Galesville: April to June
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) | 9.7 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 14.6 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.5 |
| High (°F) | 44 | 47 | 55 | 66 | 75 | 83 | 88 | 86 | 79 | 68 | 57 | 48 |
| Rain (in) | 3.1 | 2.7 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 3.7 |
February is the driest month (2.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 4.6 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Galesville →
Next door
Galesville and its neighbors
Galesville 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galesville | 5% | 0.2 | 33 | 84% | B+ |
| Shady Side | 16% | 0.9 | 131 | 73% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Galesville
How much of Galesville is conserved land?
5% of its land, against a typical 9% for a Maryland town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Galesville’s trails?
Wilson Park and Galesville Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Galesville?
6,451 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Galesville or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 35 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Galesville have?
Ahead of 66% 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 Galesville 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 →