North Carolina Coastal Land Trust: Orton Plantation Holdings, LLC
Nature preserve
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Piperpet · CC BY-SA 4.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Boiling Spring Lakes
47% of Boiling Spring Lakes’ land is conserved: 7,072 acres
21 miles of mapped trail cross Boiling Spring Lakes, 0.9 per square mile of land. 53 acres are parks and preserves, 8.4 per 1,000 residents. 65% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 77% of U.S. towns · #30 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Conserved land
47%
7,072 acres · of 23.7 sq mi of land
Trails
21 mi
0.9 per sq mi of land
Park land
53 ac
8.4 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
65%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
23
What kind of outdoors town is Boiling Spring Lakes?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Boiling Spring Lakes have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Boiling Spring Lakes is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns, #30 of 290 in North Carolina. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Boiling Spring Lakes’ overall grade.
Conserved land47% of the land · typical NC town 3% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.9 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (21 mi) · NC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land8.4 acres of park per 1,000 residents (53 acres) · NC 8 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home65% of residents within a half mile of a park · NC 51% · U.S. 72%B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 77%
LessMore
North Carolina towns of 2,500+ (290)Ahead of 90%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. 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.
Mirror Lake Park
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Charles Schneiders Park
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 6 parks & preserves
North Carolina Coastal Land Trust: Orton Plantation Holdings, LLC4 acres
Robert Muse Memorial Park1 acres
DirectionsMirror Lake Park1 acres
Charles Schneiders Park1 acres
Alton Lennon Park1 acres
Spring Lake Park1 acres
Who protects it
7,072 conserved acres
47% of Boiling Spring Lakes’ land. Who manages Boiling Spring Lakes’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State conservation6,365 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits10 ac
Town or city8 ac
State natural resources3 ac
Not recorded6,986 ac
State Other or Unknown · 6,439 acConservation Easement · 6,368 acLocal Other or Unknown · 487 acLocal Recreation Area · 43 acUnknown · 13 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 79 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 331 of 342 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boiling Spring Lakes Plant Conservation Preserve State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 6,439 | Restricted |
| City of Boiling Spring Lakes Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 479 | Unknown |
| City of Boiling Spring Lakes - Boiling Spring Lakes Community Center Local Recreation Area | Not recorded | 43 | Unknown |
| Pretty Pond Limesink Complex Natural Heritage Preserve Unknown | Not recorded | 13 | Restricted |
| Brunswick County Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 8 | Unknown |
| Southeastern Brunswick County Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 4 | Unknown |
| North Carolina Safe Harbor Agreement - Red-cockaded Woodpecker State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 4 | Restricted |
| Robert Muse Memorial Park Local Park | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| Tate Lake Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Spring Lake Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
2 places to go in Boiling Spring Lakes
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Boiling Spring Lakes
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
23 lakes & rivers
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
6Tennis
4Baseball
1Soccer
1Basketball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Boiling Spring Lakes: 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) | 10.1 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 13.9 | 14.4 | 14.2 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.3 | 9.9 |
| High (°F) | 58 | 61 | 67 | 74 | 81 | 87 | 90 | 88 | 84 | 76 | 67 | 60 |
| Rain (in) | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 6.4 | 7.0 | 7.8 | 4.7 | 3.5 | 3.7 |
April is the driest month (3.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 90 °F). 7.8 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 90 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Boiling Spring Lakes →
Next door
Boiling Spring Lakes and its neighbors
Boiling Spring Lakes 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boiling Spring Lakes | 47% | 0.9 | 8 | 65% | A− |
| Oak Island | 20% | 0.7 | 9 | 66% | B+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Boiling Spring Lakes
How much of Boiling Spring Lakes is conserved land?
47% of its land, against a typical 3% for a North Carolina town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Boiling Spring Lakes’ trails?
North Carolina Coastal Land Trust: Orton Plantation Holdings, LLC and Robert Muse Memorial Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Boiling Spring Lakes?
23,642 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Boiling Spring Lakes or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 53 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Boiling Spring Lakes have?
Ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #30 of 290 in North Carolina. 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 Boiling Spring Lakes 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 →