Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Southern Shores
30% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 16 acres are parks and preserves, 5.2 per 1,000 residents. 1.1 miles of mapped trail cross Southern Shores, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 23% of U.S. towns · #212 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
How much outdoors does Southern Shores have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Southern Shores is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns, #212 of 290 in North Carolina. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; trail miles come closest.
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
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
16 conserved acres
1% of Southern Shores’ land. Who manages Southern Shores’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillcrest Beach Park Local Recreation Area | Private owners | 13 | Open |
| Sea Oats Park Local Park | Private owners | 3 | Open |
4.5 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 Southern Shores: 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) | 10.0 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 51 | 53 | 59 | 68 | 75 | 83 | 87 | 85 | 80 | 72 | 62 | 55 |
| Rain (in) | 3.9 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
February is the driest month (3.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 5.5 inches fall in July, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Southern Shores →
Southern Shores and its neighbors
Southern Shores has the second 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Shores | 1% | 0.3 | 5 | 30% | C− |
| Kitty Hawk | 29% | 0.6 | 249 | 94% | A+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Southern Shores
How much of Southern Shores 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.
Where can I bike in Southern Shores?
4.5 miles of bike routes are on the map: 4.5 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Southern Shores?
2,616 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Southern Shores or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 16 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Southern Shores have?
Ahead of 23% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #212 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 Southern Shores 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 →