Poplar Grove · Photo: BSLRed · CC BY-SA 3.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Porters Neck
3% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 1% of Porters Neck’s land is conserved, about 48 acres. 1.9 miles of mapped trail cross Porters Neck, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 15% of U.S. towns · #245 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
How much outdoors does Porters Neck have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Porters Neck is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns, #245 of 290 in North Carolina. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
Water is 6% of Porters Neck’s area (0 of 6 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 1%.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
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48 conserved acres
1% of Porters Neck’s land. Water is left out: Porters Neck has 5.4 square miles of land and 0.4 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Porters Neck’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 3 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 6 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| NC Submerged Lands State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 25 | Open |
| New Hanover County Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 15 | Unknown |
| NC Land and Water Fund Conservation Agreement State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 13 | Restricted |
| NC Land and Water Fund Project State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 6 | Restricted |
2 places to go in Porters Neck
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
1 lakes & rivers
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
The best walking months in Porters Neck: 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) | 57 | 59 | 65 | 73 | 80 | 86 | 89 | 88 | 83 | 75 | 66 | 60 |
| Rain (in) | 3.9 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 5.5 | 6.4 | 7.3 | 8.1 | 4.6 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
April is the driest month (3.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 8.1 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Porters Neck →
Questions about parks and trails in Porters Neck
How much of Porters Neck is conserved land?
1% 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.
Is there public land near Porters Neck?
9,785 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Porters Neck or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 23 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Porters Neck have?
Ahead of 15% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #245 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 Porters Neck neighbors.
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 →