Glatfelter Easement
Nature preserve
788 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Linda Roy Walls · CC BY-SA 4.0COutdoors
Outdoors in Mount Vernon
23% of Mount Vernon’s land is conserved: 1,945 acres
1% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 10 acres are parks and preserves, 9.0 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
23%
1,945 acres · of 13.0 sq mi of land
Trails
0.0 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
10 ac
9.0 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
1%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
10 ft
Dunker Hill
Lakes & rivers
1
1 beach · 3 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Mount Vernon?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Mount Vernon have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Mount Vernon is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Vernon’s overall grade.
Conserved land23% of the land · typical MD town 9% · U.S. 4%ATrails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · MD 0.5 · U.S. 0.4DPark land9.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (10 acres) · MD 9 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home1% of residents within a half mile of a park · MD 87% · U.S. 72%D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 29%
LessMore
Maryland towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 9%; the U.S., 4%), so Mount Vernon’s 23% is ahead of 91% of Maryland towns, while its trails per square mile lead 2% of them.
Water is 17% of Mount Vernon’s area (3 of 16 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 20%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. 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.
Chesapeake Forest
Managed by Maryland Forest Service
486 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Deal Island Wildlife Management Area
Managed by Wildlife and Heritage Service
231 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Lankford, Mary Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Easement
Managed by DNR and Somerset Soil Conservation District
30 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 5 parks & preserves
Glatfelter Easement788 acres
Chesapeake Forest486 acres · Maryland Forest Service
Deal Island Wildlife Management Area231 acres · Wildlife and Heritage Service
Lankford, Mary Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Easement30 acres · DNR and Somerset Soil Conservation District
Mount Vernon Park10 acres
DirectionsWho protects it
1,945 conserved acres
23% of Mount Vernon’s land. Water is left out: Mount Vernon has 13.0 square miles of land and 2.6 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Mount Vernon’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources1,959 ac
Joint174 ac
Other state land165 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits59 ac
Not recorded838 ac
Conservation Easement · 1,981 acState Resource Management Area · 607 acState Conservation Area · 384 acAgricultural Easement · 165 acUnknown Easement · 59 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,106 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 13 of 24 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chesapeake Forest Lands State Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 607 | Unknown |
| Deal Island Wma State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 231 | Unknown |
| Deal Island Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 153 | Restricted |
Things to do
8 places to go in Mount Vernon
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon Beach
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Mount Vernon
3 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Boat launches in Mount Vernon
3 boat launches without a name on the map.
Peaks in Mount Vernon
Dunker Hill10 ft elevation
DirectionsTrails & water
1 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
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
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Mount Vernon: 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) | 9.8 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.1 | 14.2 | 14.8 | 14.6 | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.5 |
| High (°F) | 46 | 49 | 56 | 67 | 75 | 84 | 88 | 86 | 80 | 70 | 59 | 50 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
February is the driest month (2.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 4.6 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Mount Vernon →
Questions about parks and trails in Mount Vernon
How much of Mount Vernon is conserved land?
23% 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 Mount Vernon’s trails?
Glatfelter Easement and Chesapeake Forest don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Mount Vernon?
2,563 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Mount Vernon or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 10 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Mount Vernon have?
Ahead of 29% 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 Mount Vernon 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 →