Bridgewater Town Forest
Managed by Town of Bridgewater
62 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Bridgewater
Bridgewater has 79 acres of parks, 68 for every 1,000 residents
2% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 12 miles of mapped trail cross Bridgewater, 0.6 per square mile of land. 3% of Bridgewater’s land is conserved, about 389 acres.
Ahead of 51% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
389 acres · of 21.5 sq mi of land
Trails
12 mi
0.6 per sq mi of land
Park land
79 ac
68 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
2%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
1,886 ft
Peaked Hill
Lakes & rivers
4
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Bridgewater have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Bridgewater is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Bridgewater’s overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical NH town 19% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (12 mi) · NH 1.2 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land68 acres of park per 1,000 residents (79 acres) · NH 44 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home2% of residents within a half mile of a park · NH 40% · U.S. 72%D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 51%
LessMore
New Hampshire towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 19%; the U.S., 4%), so Bridgewater’s 3% is ahead of 1% of New Hampshire towns, while its trails per square mile lead 5% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ 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.
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.
Sawhegenet Falls Recreation Area
Managed by Town of Bridgewater
13 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
389 conserved acres
3% of Bridgewater’s land. Who manages Bridgewater’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits457 ac
Town or city125 ac
Other state land38 ac
Not recorded78 ac
Conservation Easement · 373 acUnknown Easement · 228 acLocal Resource Management Area · 64 acOther Easement · 19 acLocal Other or Unknown · 14 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 311 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 10 of 12 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgewater Town Forest Local Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 64 | Unknown |
| Sahegenet Falls Recreation Area Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 14 | Unknown |
Things to do
2 places to go in Bridgewater
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Peaks in Bridgewater
Peaked Hill1,886 ft elevation
DirectionsBridgewater Mountain1,644 ft elevation
DirectionsTrails & water
3 named trails and 4 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 11.4 mi
Glen Street North0.6 mi
Glen Street South0.2 mi
Maple Street North0.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
When to get out
The best walking months in Bridgewater: May, June, August and September
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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 29 | 32 | 40 | 54 | 66 | 75 | 79 | 78 | 70 | 57 | 45 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 5.3 | 4.1 | 4.5 |
February is the driest month (3.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 5.3 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Bridgewater →
Next door
Bridgewater and its neighbors
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgewater | 3% | 0.6 | 68 | 2% | B− |
| Bristol | 8% | 0.7 | 44 | 40% | B+ |
| New Hampton | 15% | 0.7 | 65 | 15% | B+ |
| Ashland | 28% | 1.5 | 3 | 42% | B+ |
| Plymouth | 13% | 0.7 | 52 | 70% | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Bridgewater
How much of Bridgewater is conserved land?
3% of its land, against a typical 19% for a New Hampshire town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Bridgewater’s trails?
Bridgewater Town Forest and Sawhegenet Falls Recreation Area don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Bridgewater?
14,016 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Bridgewater or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 79 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Bridgewater have?
Ahead of 51% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. 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 Bridgewater 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 →