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Mary's GroveMary's Grove · Photo: Bigdaverhuberg · CC BY-SA 3.0
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Lenoir

7% of Lenoir’s land is conserved: 931 acres

11 miles of mapped trail cross Lenoir, 0.5 per square mile of land. 323 acres are parks and preserves, 18 per 1,000 residents. 57% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 66% of U.S. towns · #55 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it

Conserved land
7%
931 acres · of 20.8 sq mi of land
Trails
11 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
323 ac
18 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
57%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
6.4 mi
6.4 mi paths
Highest peak
2,290 ft
Moses Knob
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Lenoir have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Lenoir is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns, #55 of 290 in North Carolina. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Lenoir’s overall grade.
Conserved land7% of the land · typical NC town 3% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (11 mi) · NC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4BPark land18 acres of park per 1,000 residents (323 acres) · NC 8 · U.S. 13BParks close to home57% 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 66%
LessMore
North Carolina towns of 2,500+ (290)Ahead of 81%
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.

1234
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 Mulberry Park, with 0.3 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Mulberry Park

Park
27 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Lenoir Greenway

Managed by Lenoir Parks and Recreation
67 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗

T.H. Broyhill Walking Park

Managed by Lenoir Park and Recreation
32 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
All 11 parks & preserves
Mulberry Park27 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
Broyhill Park9 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
T.H. Broyhill Walking Park32 acres · 0.1 mi of trail · Lenoir Park and Recreation
Directions
Lenoir Greenway67 acres · Lenoir Parks and Recreation
Directions
Wilson Athletic Park19 acres
Directions
Caldwell County Open Space16 acres
Lenoir Optimist Park13 acres
Unity Park7 acres
Directions
Martin Luther King Jr. Center6 acres
Directions
Lenoir High School4 acres · Lenoir Parks and Recreation
West End Community Park3 acres · Lenoir Parks and Recreation
Who protects it

931 conserved acres

7% of Lenoir’s land. Who manages Lenoir’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State conservation618 ac
Town or city218 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits1 ac
Not recorded1,501 ac
Local Recreation Area · 1,014 acConservation Easement · 618 acState Other or Unknown · 590 acLocal Park · 93 acLocal Other or Unknown · 23 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 7 of 25 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
City of Lenoir Open Space
Local Other or Unknown
Not recorded720Unknown
NC Land and Water Fund Conservation Agreement
State Other or Unknown
Not recorded590Restricted
Lenoir_Rotary_Soccer_Complex
Local Recreation Area
Town or city116Open
City of Lenoir - Lenoir Greenway
Local Recreation Area
Not recorded70Open
City of Lenoir - Broyhill Walking Park
Local Recreation Area
Not recorded35Open
Thbroyhill_Walkingpark
Local Park
Town or city35Open
City of Lenoir - Mulberry Recreation Center
Local Recreation Area
Not recorded27Open
Mulberry_Reccenter
Local Park
Town or city27Open
Caldwell County Open Space
Local Other or Unknown
Not recorded20Unknown
Wilson_Park
Local Park
Town or city17Open

5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.

Things to do

13 places to go in Lenoir

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Community gardens in Lenoir
Beall Street Community Gardens
Directions
Community GardensIn Unity Park
Directions
Trails & water

2 named trails

Named trails
Open to bikes · 4.4 miUnpaved · 4.4 mi
Zacks Fork Trail2.8 mi
Lenoir Aquatic Center Trail0.9 mi
Biking & sports

6.4 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

6.4 mi
off-road bike paths
Lenoir GreenwayBike route
0.3 mi
Courts & fields
12Baseball
10Soccer
9Tennis
2Basketball
1Skate park
1Beach volleyball
1Football

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

9 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).

History →
Caldwell County CourthouseBuilding · listed 1979
About it
Lenoir High SchoolDistrict · listed 1990
About it
Mary's GroveBuilding · listed 2001
About it
Edgar Allan Poe HouseBuilding · listed 2001
About it
Lenoir Grammar SchoolBuilding · listed 2006
About it
Lenoir Downtown Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2007
About it
Bernhardt, J.M., Planing Mill and Box Factory-Steele Cotton MillBuilding · listed 2017
About it
Lenoir Cotton Mill-Blue Bell Inc. PlantBuilding · listed 2017
About it
Carolina and Northwestern Railway Freight StationBuilding · listed 2019
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Lenoir: April to June

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)10.010.811.913.114.114.614.413.512.411.210.29.7
High (°F)505461717885888681716152
Rain (in)4.13.44.24.44.34.64.54.84.23.73.64.2

February is the driest month (3.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 4.8 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Lenoir →

Next door

Lenoir and its neighbors

Lenoir has the most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Lenoir11 miHudson1.2 miGamewell0.4 miSawmills0.2 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Lenoir7%0.51857%B+
Hudson2%0.31363%B−
Gamewellunder 1%under 0.1720%D
Sawmills2%under 0.11511%C−

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Lenoir

Where can I hike in Lenoir?

The longest trail networks: Mulberry Park, 0.3 miles; T.H. Broyhill Walking Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Lenoir is conserved land?

7% 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 Lenoir’s trails?

Mulberry Park and Lenoir Greenway don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Lenoir?

6.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 6.4 of off-road paths. Named routes: Lenoir Greenway.

Is there public land near Lenoir?

29,997 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Lenoir or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 323 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Lenoir have?

Ahead of 66% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #55 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 Lenoir neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →