Red Bud Park
Park
8 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Madison County Jail · Photo: Scoutandboo · CC BY-SA 3.0C+Outdoors
Outdoors in Canton
8% of Canton’s land is conserved: 1,110 acres
37 acres are parks and preserves, 3.4 per 1,000 residents. 3.2 miles of mapped trail cross Canton, 0.2 per square mile of land. 51% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 39% of U.S. towns · #40 of 101 in Mississippi. What drives it
Conserved land
8%
1,110 acres · of 21.3 sq mi of land
Trails
3.2 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
37 ac
3.4 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
51%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Canton?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Canton have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Canton is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns, #40 of 101 in Mississippi. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Canton’s overall grade.
Conserved land8% of the land · typical MS town 2% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · MS 0.1 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land3.4 acres of park per 1,000 residents (37 acres) · MS 8 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home51% of residents within a half mile of a park · MS 46% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 39%
LessMore
Mississippi towns of 2,500+ (101)Ahead of 61%
Few Mississippi towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Canton’s 8% is ahead of 84% of Mississippi towns, while its trails per square mile lead 51% of them.
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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
1,110 conserved acres
8% of Canton’s land. Who manages Canton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State land board1,000 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits76 ac
Town or city25 ac
Private owners9 ac
State Resource Management Area · 1,000 acRecreation or Education Easement · 76 acLocal Park · 19 acLocal Recreation Area · 15 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 76 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi 16th Section Public School Trust Lands State Resource Management Area | State land board | 1,000 | Open |
| Saab Park Local Park | Town or city | 11 | Open |
| Vfw Park Local Recreation Area | Private owners | 9 | Open |
| Rose Bud Park Local Park | Town or city | 8 | Open |
| Canton Fitness Complex Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 6 | Open |
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
17Baseball
3Tennis
1Equestrian
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →9 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 1 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
Madison County JailBuilding · listed 1979
About itCanton Courthouse Square Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1982
About itKirkpatrick Dental OfficeBuilding · listed 1991
About itCharles F. Smith HouseBuilding · listed 1994
About itEast Canton Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1998
About itCanton High SchoolBuilding · listed 1998
About itMt. Zion Baptist ChurchBuilding · listed 2000
About itYoung HouseBuilding · listed 2008
About itCanton CemeterySite · listed 2015
About itWhen to get out
May is the best month for walking in Canton
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) | 10.2 | 11.0 | 11.9 | 12.9 | 13.8 | 14.3 | 14.1 | 13.3 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 10.0 |
| High (°F) | 57 | 61 | 69 | 76 | 83 | 89 | 92 | 92 | 87 | 78 | 67 | 59 |
| Rain (in) | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 5.3 |
September is the driest month (3.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 92 °F). 6.0 inches fall in April, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 92 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Canton →
Next door
Canton and its neighbors
Canton has the most mapped trails of the 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canton | 8% | 0.2 | 3 | 51% | C+ |
| Gluckstadt | 4% | 0.2 | under 1 | 7% | C− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Canton
How much of Canton is conserved land?
8% 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 Canton’s trails?
Red Bud Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Canton?
1,230 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Canton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 37 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Canton have?
Ahead of 39% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #40 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 Canton 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 →