Lincoln School · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0

Outdoors in Acton

Acton has 31 miles of mapped trails, 0.8 for every square mile of land

The biggest trail networks: Hansen Pond Preserve (0.8 mi), Goat Hill Trail (0.7 mi), Mary Grant Nature Preserve (0.5 mi). 5% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 70 acres are parks and preserves, 26 per 1,000 residents.

Ahead of 52% of U.S. towns · #82 of 143 in Maine. What drives it

Conserved land

830 acres · of 37.8 sq mi of land

Trails

31 mi

0.8 per sq mi of land

Park land

70 ac

26 acres per 1,000 residents

Near a park

of residents within ½ mile

Highest peak

1,033 ft

Hussey Hill

Lakes & rivers

4 boat launches

What kind of outdoors town is Acton?

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

A trail town0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 76% of U.S. towns.

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Acton have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Acton is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns, #82 of 143 in Maine. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

B⁻

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

Conserved land3% of the land · typical ME town 6% · U.S. 4%B⁻Trails0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (31 mi) · ME 0.7 · U.S. 0.4A⁻Park land26 acres of park per 1,000 residents (70 acres) · ME 15 · U.S. 13B⁺Parks close to home5% of residents within a half mile of a park · ME 30% · U.S. 72%D

All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 52%

LessMore

Maine towns of 2,500+ (143)Ahead of 43%

Water is 8% of Acton’s area (3 of 41 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 3%.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ 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 →

All 6 parks & preserves

Hansen Pond Preserve334 acres · 0.8 mi of trail

Directions

Goat Hill Trail25 acres · 0.7 mi of trail

Directions

Mary Grant Nature Preserve16 acres · 0.5 mi of trail

Hobbs Farm175 acres

Square Pond Water Access28 acres

Directions

Acton Fair27 acres

Who protects it

830 conserved acres

3% of Acton’s land. Water is left out: Acton has 37.8 square miles of land and 3.3 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Acton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Land trusts & nonprofits1,362 ac

Regional agency160 ac

Joint99 ac

State fish & wildlife25 ac

Agricultural Easement · 630 acConservation Easement · 550 acLocal Other or Unknown · 168 acUnknown Easement · 140 acPrivate Other or Unknown · 140 ac

Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 505 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 13 of 20 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels

Parcel (PAD-US)	Managed by	Acres	Public access
Acton Local Other or Unknown	Regional agency	143	Unknown
Hobbs Farm Private Other or Unknown	Land trusts & nonprofits	140	Closed
Square Pond Water Access Local Other or Unknown	State fish & wildlife	25	Restricted
Acton - Mary Grant Nature Preserve Unknown	Regional agency	16	Unknown

Things to do

12 places to go in Acton

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

Peaks in Acton

Hussey Hill1,033 ft elevation

Directions

Gerrish Mountain919 ft elevation

Directions

Acton Ridge863 ft elevation

Directions

Hurd Hill820 ft elevation

Directions

Horn Hill784 ft elevation

Directions

Trails & water

3 named trails and 7 lakes & rivers

Named trails

Open to bikes · 1.1 miUnpaved · 15.4 mi

Hansen Pond Trail1.2 mi

Goat Hill Trail0.7 mi

Mary Grant Nature Preserve Trail0.5 mi

Lakes & rivers tap for directions

Balch Pondreservoir Great East Lakereservoir Hansen Pondlake Loon Pondpond Moose Pondpond Swan Pondpond Wilson Lakelake

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

3Baseball

1Basketball

1Soccer

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

History along the way

1 place on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).

History →

Lincoln SchoolBuilding · listed 2013

About it

When to get out

The best walking months in Acton: 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)	9.3	10.4	11.8	13.4	14.7	15.4	15.1	14.0	12.4	10.9	9.6	9.0
High (°F)	30	34	42	55	67	75	80	79	71	58	46	36
Rain (in)	3.6	3.3	4.2	4.4	3.8	4.6	4.1	3.9	4.0	5.3	4.4	4.6

February is the driest month (3.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 5.3 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Acton →

Next door

Acton and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Milton44 mi Shapleigh35 mi Acton31 mi Newfield28 mi Lebanon25 mi Wakefield18 mi

Town	Conserved of land	Trail mi per sq mi	Park acres per 1,000	Near a park ½ mile	Outdoors
Acton	3%	0.8	26	5%	B⁻
Newfield	12%	0.9	under 1	under 1%	C
Shapleigh	23%	0.9	28	16%	B⁺
Lebanon	3%	0.5	4	4%	C

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

Questions about parks and trails in Acton

Where can I hike in Acton?

The longest trail networks: Hansen Pond Preserve, 0.8 miles; Goat Hill Trail, 0.7 miles; Mary Grant Nature Preserve, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Acton is conserved land?

3% of its land, against a typical 6% for a Maine town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Acton’s trails?

Hansen Pond Preserve and Goat Hill Trail don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Acton?

4,469 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Acton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 70 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Acton have?

Ahead of 52% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #82 of 143 in Maine. 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 Acton 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 Acton

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Acton has 31 miles of mapped trails, 0.8 for every square mile of land

What kind of outdoors town is Acton?

How much outdoors does Acton have?

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Pick a walk

Hansen Pond Preserve

Goat Hill Trail

Mary Grant Nature Preserve

Hobbs Farm

830 conserved acres

12 places to go in Acton

3 named trails and 7 lakes & rivers

0.0 miles of bike routes

1 place on the National Register

The best walking months in Acton: May to September

Acton and its neighbors

Questions about parks and trails in Acton

Trail talk

Where this page comes from