Pownalborough Court House Trails
Park
70 acres1.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Dresden Town House · Photo: Iverjm · CC BY-SA 3.0B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Dresden
Dresden has 88 acres of parks, 53 for every 1,000 residents
The biggest trail networks: Pownalborough Court House Trails (1.5 mi). 1% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 6% of Dresden’s land is conserved, about 1,073 acres.
Ahead of 45% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
6%
1,073 acres · of 30.5 sq mi of land
Trails
5.5 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
88 ac
53 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
1%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
443 ft
Blinn Hill
Lakes & rivers
3
What kind of outdoors town is Dresden?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Dresden have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Dresden is ahead of 45% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Dresden’s overall grade.
Conserved land6% of the land · typical ME town 6% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (6 mi) · ME 0.7 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land53 acres of park per 1,000 residents (88 acres) · ME 15 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home1% 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 45%
LessMore
Water is 8% of Dresden’s area (3 of 33 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 5%.
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 →
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 Pownalborough Court House Trails, with 1.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Pownalborough Court House
Park
17 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Earle R. Kelly Wildlife Management Area
Managed by Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
338 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Green Point Wildlife Management Area
Managed by Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
300 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
1,073 conserved acres
6% of Dresden’s land. Water is left out: Dresden has 30.5 square miles of land and 2.8 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Dresden’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State fish & wildlife858 ac
Other state land262 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits106 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)92 ac
Not recorded167 ac
State Conservation Area · 1,025 acAgricultural Easement · 191 acConservation Easement · 153 acPrivate Other or Unknown · 83 acUnknown Easement · 31 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 123 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 12 of 26 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earle R. Kelly (Dresden Bog) Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 552 | Closed |
| Green Point Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 306 | Closed |
| Earle R. Kelly Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 144 | Unknown |
| Yoray Private Other or Unknown | Land trusts & nonprofits | 52 | Closed |
| Houdlette Private Other or Unknown | Land trusts & nonprofits | 32 | Closed |
| Earle R Kelly Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 16 | Unknown |
| Earle R. Kelly (Dresden Bog) Wildlife Management Area-Burgess State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 4 | Unknown |
| Earle R. Kelly (Dresden Bog) Wildlife Management Area-Robert Allen State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 3 | Unknown |
Things to do
2 places to go in Dresden
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Peaks in Dresden
Blinn Hill443 ft elevation
DirectionsCall Hill344 ft elevation
DirectionsTrails & water
2 named trails and 3 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 0.5 mi
Lane 40.1 mi
Lane 30.1 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
2Baseball
1Volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →8 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Norlands, TheDistrict · listed 1969
About itPownalborough CourthouseBuilding · listed 1970
About itBowman-Carney HouseBuilding · listed 1971
About itLithgow HouseBuilding · listed 1985
About itDresden Brick School HouseBuilding · listed 1986
About itBridge AcademyBuilding · listed 1987
About itSt. John's Episcopal ChurchBuilding · listed 1991
About itDresden Town HouseBuilding · listed 2000
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Dresden: 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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 30 | 33 | 41 | 53 | 65 | 73 | 79 | 78 | 70 | 58 | 46 | 36 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 5.2 | 4.4 | 4.3 |
February is the driest month (3.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 5.2 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Dresden →
Next door
Dresden 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dresden | 6% | 0.2 | 53 | 1% | B− |
| Richmond | 9% | 1.3 | 56 | 35% | A− |
| Wiscasset | 9% | 0.5 | 4 | 20% | C+ |
| Alna | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Woolwich | 8% | 0.2 | 55 | 7% | B− |
| Pittston | under 1% | 0.1 | 9 | 6% | D |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Dresden
Where can I hike in Dresden?
The longest trail networks: Pownalborough Court House Trails, 1.5 miles; Pownalborough Court House, 0.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Dresden is conserved land?
6% 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 Dresden’s trails?
Pownalborough Court House Trails and Pownalborough Court House don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Dresden?
1,504 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Dresden or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 88 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Dresden have?
Ahead of 45% 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 Dresden 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 →