Friendship Park
Managed by City of Columbia
7 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
U.S. Post Office · Photo: Gabriel D. May · CC BY-SA 3.0C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Columbia
Columbia has 63 acres of parks, 9.5 for every 1,000 residents
The biggest trail networks: Friendship Park (0.5 mi). 0.6 miles of mapped trail cross Columbia, 0.1 per square mile of land. 46% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 23% of U.S. towns · #73 of 101 in Mississippi. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
52 acres · of 11.1 sq mi of land
Trails
0.6 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
63 ac
9.5 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
46%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Columbia?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Columbia have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Columbia is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns, #73 of 101 in Mississippi. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; park acres per resident come closest.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Columbia’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical MS town 2% · U.S. 4%CTrails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · MS 0.1 · U.S. 0.4C−Park land9.5 acres of park per 1,000 residents (63 acres) · MS 8 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home46% 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 23%
LessMore
Mississippi towns of 2,500+ (101)Ahead of 28%
Few Mississippi towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Columbia’s 1% is ahead of 27% of Mississippi towns, while its trails per square mile lead 25% of them.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Columbia. 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 C− 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 Friendship Park, with 0.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Duckworth Park
Park
7 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Marion County Farmers Market
Managed by Marion County
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
52 conserved acres
1% of Columbia’s land. Who manages Columbia’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city52 ac
Local Recreation Area · 52 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown Field Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 22 | Open |
| Billy B Rawls Fields Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 22 | Open |
| Duckworth Park Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 8 | Open |
Things to do
1 places to go in Columbia
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Picnic areas in Columbia
Orchard Ballfield
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
9Tennis
6Baseball
2Football
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).
U.S. Post OfficeBuilding · listed 1981
About itKeys Hill Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1982
About itMarion County Courthouse and JailBuilding · listed 1995
About itSuperintendent's Home at Columbia Training SchoolBuilding · listed 1995
About itDowntown Columbia Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1997
About itLampton-Thompson-Bourne HouseBuilding · listed 1998
About itBroad Street-Church Street Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2008
About itColumbia North Residential Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2009
About itColumbia Country ClubDistrict · listed 2015
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Columbia: 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) | 10.3 | 11.0 | 11.9 | 12.9 | 13.7 | 14.2 | 14.0 | 13.3 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.5 | 10.1 |
| High (°F) | 61 | 65 | 72 | 78 | 85 | 90 | 92 | 92 | 88 | 80 | 69 | 63 |
| Rain (in) | 5.9 | 5.4 | 5.7 | 5.1 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 5.9 | 6.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 5.4 |
October is the driest month (3.8 in) and August the warmest (highs of 92 °F). 6.0 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 92 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Columbia →
Questions about parks and trails in Columbia
Where can I hike in Columbia?
The longest trail networks: Friendship Park, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Columbia is conserved land?
1% 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 Columbia’s trails?
Friendship Park and Duckworth Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Columbia?
60 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Columbia or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 63 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Columbia have?
Ahead of 23% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #73 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 Columbia 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 →