Bay Saint Louis Sports Complex
Park
28 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA · CC BY 2.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Bay St. Louis
9% of Bay St. Louis’ land is conserved: 819 acres
The biggest trail networks: Bay Saint Louis Sports Complex (0.5 mi). 70 acres are parks and preserves, 6.8 per 1,000 residents. 6.9 miles of mapped trail cross Bay St. Louis, 0.5 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 61% of U.S. towns · #10 of 101 in Mississippi. What drives it
Conserved land
9%
819 acres · of 14.7 sq mi of land
Trails
6.9 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
70 ac
6.8 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
73%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
3.0 mi
1.3 mi lanes · 1.7 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
2
3 beaches · 2 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Bay St. Louis?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Bay St. Louis have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Bay St. Louis is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #10 of 101 in Mississippi. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Bay St. Louis’ overall grade.
Conserved land9% of the land · typical MS town 2% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (7 mi) · MS 0.1 · U.S. 0.4BPark land6.8 acres of park per 1,000 residents (70 acres) · MS 8 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home73% of residents within a half mile of a park · MS 46% · U.S. 72%B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 61%
LessMore
Mississippi towns of 2,500+ (101)Ahead of 91%
Few Mississippi towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Bay St. Louis’ 9% is ahead of 85% of Mississippi towns, while its trails per square mile lead 90% of them.
Water is 45% of Bay St. Louis’ area (12 of 27 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 B− 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 Bay Saint Louis Sports Complex, with 0.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
McDonald Park
Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Martin Luther King Jr. Park
Park
2 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 5 parks & preserves
Bay Saint Louis Sports Complex28 acres · 0.5 mi of trail
DirectionsMartin Luther King Jr. Park2 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Carol Vegas Park2 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
DirectionsCommagere Park23 acres
DirectionsMcDonald Park3 acres
Who protects it
819 conserved acres
9% of Bay St. Louis’ land. Water is left out: Bay St. Louis has 14.7 square miles of land and 11.9 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Bay St. Louis’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Other state land700 ac
State land board141 ac
Town or city31 ac
County4 ac
State Conservation Area · 700 acState Resource Management Area · 141 acLocal Park · 36 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bayou Lacroix Coastal Reserve State Conservation Area | Other state land | 395 | Restricted |
| Jourdan River Coastal Reserve State Conservation Area | Other state land | 305 | Restricted |
| Mississippi 16th Section Public School Trust Lands State Resource Management Area | State land board | 141 | Open |
| Commagere Park Local Park | Town or city | 23 | Open |
| Hancock Medical Park Local Park | County | 4 | Open |
| Mcdonald Park Local Park | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| City Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Al Smith Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Larroux Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
11 places to go in Bay St. Louis
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Bay St. Louis
3 beaches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Playgrounds in Bay St. Louis
6 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Boat launches in Bay St. Louis
Cedar Point Boat Launch
DirectionsPlus 1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
2 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
3.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
1.3 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
1.7 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
11Tennis
10Soccer
6Baseball
4Softball
3Basketball
2Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →7 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Beach Boulevard Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1980
About itBuilding at 242 St. Charles StreetBuilding · listed 1980
About itMain Street Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1980
About itSycamore Street Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1980
About itWashington Street Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1980
About itWebb School/Gulf Coast Community Action AgencyBuilding · listed 1986
About itOld Bay St. Louis Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2010
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Bay St. Louis: April and May
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) | 10.4 | 11.1 | 11.9 | 12.9 | 13.7 | 14.1 | 13.9 | 13.2 | 12.3 | 11.4 | 10.6 | 10.2 |
| High (°F) | 60 | 63 | 69 | 75 | 82 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 86 | 79 | 69 | 62 |
| Rain (in) | 5.4 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 6.7 | 5.2 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 4.9 |
October is the driest month (3.7 in) and August the warmest (highs of 90 °F). 7.5 inches fall in July, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 90 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Bay St. Louis →
Next door
Bay St. Louis and its neighbors
Bay St. Louis has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay St. Louis | 9% | 0.5 | 7 | 73% | B |
| Waveland | 9% | under 0.1 | 56 | 52% | B− |
| Diamondhead | 29% | 0.2 | 1 | 35% | C+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Bay St. Louis
Where can I hike in Bay St. Louis?
The longest trail networks: Bay Saint Louis Sports Complex, 0.5 miles; Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Bay St. Louis is conserved land?
9% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Mississippi town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Bay St. Louis’ trails?
Bay Saint Louis Sports Complex and Commagere Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Bay St. Louis?
3.0 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.3 of painted or protected lanes and 1.7 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Bay St. Louis?
1,720 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Bay St. Louis or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 70 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Bay St. Louis have?
Ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #10 of 101 in Mississippi. 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 Bay St. Louis 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 →