Bud Leavitt Wildlife Management Area
Managed by Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
1,900 acres2.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domainC−Outdoors
Outdoors in Charleston
14% of Charleston’s land is conserved: 3,690 acres
The biggest trail networks: Bud Leavitt Wildlife Management Area (2.5 mi). 4.3 miles of mapped trail cross Charleston, 0.1 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 20% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
14%
3,690 acres · of 40.6 sq mi of land
Trails
4.3 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
837 ft
Bull Hill
What kind of outdoors town is Charleston?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Charleston have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Charleston is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Charleston’s overall grade.
Conserved land14% of the land · typical ME town 6% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (4 mi) · ME 0.7 · U.S. 0.4CPark land0.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (0 acres) · ME 15 · U.S. 13DParks close to home0% 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 20%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Charleston. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. 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
The longest trail network is Bud Leavitt WMA, with 2.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Alder Stream Wilderness Preserve
Managed by Northeast Wilderness Trust
599 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
3,690 conserved acres
14% of Charleston’s land. Who manages Charleston’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits2,591 ac
State fish & wildlife1,897 ac
Not recorded2,378 ac
State Conservation Area · 3,789 acUnknown Easement · 1,194 acAgricultural Easement · 836 acConservation Easement · 511 acPrivate Conservation · 486 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,231 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 30 of 54 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bud Leavitt (Bull Hill) Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 1,897 | Restricted |
| Bud Leavitt Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 1,892 | Unknown |
| Alder Stream Project - NWT Lands Private Conservation | Not recorded | 486 | Unknown |
| Alder Stream Project - SWT Lands Private Other or Unknown | Land trusts & nonprofits | 51 | Closed |
Things to do
2 places to go in Charleston
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Peaks in Charleston
Bull Hill837 ft elevation
DirectionsDavis Hill774 ft elevation
DirectionsBiking & 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
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
United Baptist ChurchBuilding · listed 2018
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Charleston: 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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°F) | 27 | 30 | 39 | 52 | 65 | 74 | 79 | 78 | 70 | 57 | 44 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 3.3 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.9 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
February is the driest month (2.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 4.9 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Charleston →
Next door
Charleston and its neighbors
Charleston has the most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Charleston
Where can I hike in Charleston?
The longest trail networks: Bud Leavitt Wildlife Management Area, 2.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Charleston is conserved land?
14% 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 Charleston’s trails?
Bud Leavitt Wildlife Management Area and Alder Stream Wilderness Preserve don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Charleston?
828 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Charleston or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), almost none of it inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Charleston have?
Ahead of 20% 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 Charleston 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 →