The Heath
Nature preserve
176 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Caleb R. Ayer House · Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Cornish
Cornish has 14 miles of mapped trails, 0.6 for every square mile of land
The biggest trail networks: The Heath (0.5 mi). 5% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 1% of Cornish’s land is conserved, about 171 acres.
Ahead of 18% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
171 acres · of 22.2 sq mi of land
Trails
14 mi
0.6 per sq mi of land
Near a park
5%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
1,325 ft
Clark Mountain
Lakes & rivers
2
What kind of outdoors town is Cornish?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Cornish have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Cornish is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Cornish’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical ME town 6% · U.S. 4%CTrails0.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (14 mi) · ME 0.7 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land0.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (0 acres) · ME 15 · U.S. 13DParks 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 18%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Cornish. 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 The Heath, with 0.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
171 conserved acres
1% of Cornish’s land. Who manages Cornish’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits342 ac
Conservation Easement · 171 acUnknown Easement · 171 acPrivate Other or Unknown · 1 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 171 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 3 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poulin Saco River Private Other or Unknown | Land trusts & nonprofits | 1 | Closed |
Things to do
9 places to go in Cornish
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Peaks in Cornish
Clark Mountain1,325 ft elevation
DirectionsHosac Mountain1,289 ft elevation
DirectionsPease Mountain1,161 ft elevation
DirectionsBald Head981 ft elevation
DirectionsSmalls Hill928 ft elevation
DirectionsGuptill Hill892 ft elevation
DirectionsDay Hill886 ft elevation
DirectionsTowles Hill817 ft elevation
Directions1 more peak
Pike Hill810 ft elevation
DirectionsTrails & water
1 named trail and 2 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 1.6 mi
Harvest Hollow0.2 mi
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
3Baseball
1Equestrian
1Multi-sport
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →4 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 Cornish: 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 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 30 | 33 | 42 | 55 | 67 | 75 | 80 | 79 | 71 | 58 | 46 | 35 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
February is the driest month (3.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 5.4 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Cornish →
Next door
Cornish and its neighbors
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornish | 1% | 0.6 | under 1 | 5% | C− |
| Hiram | 7% | 1.1 | 146 | 12% | B+ |
| Baldwin | 6% | 0.8 | 6 | under 1% | C+ |
| Parsonsfield | 24% | 0.8 | under 1 | 12% | C+ |
| Limington | 11% | 0.9 | 19 | 4% | B |
| Limerick | 3% | 0.5 | 2 | 7% | C |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Cornish
Where can I hike in Cornish?
The longest trail networks: The Heath, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Cornish is conserved land?
1% 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 Cornish’s trails?
The Heath and Saco River Access don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Cornish?
3,572 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Cornish or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), almost none of it inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Cornish have?
Ahead of 18% 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 Cornish 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 →