Photo: Jesper Rautell Balle · CC BY 3.0Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Fanwood
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 0.9 miles of mapped trail cross Fanwood, 0.7 per square mile of land. 28 acres are parks and preserves, 3.6 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 65% of U.S. towns · #372 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Fanwood?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Fanwood have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Fanwood is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns, #372 of 468 in New Jersey. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
New Jersey towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 11%; the U.S., 4%), so Fanwood’s 3% is ahead of 14% of New Jersey towns, while its trails per square mile lead 49% of them.
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.
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Forest Road Park, with 0.4 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Fanwood Nature Center
All 6 parks & preserves
24 conserved acres
3% of Fanwood’s land. Who manages Fanwood’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal Park Local Park | Town or city | 8 | Open |
| Municipal Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Town or city | 8 | Open |
| La Grande Playground Local Other or Unknown | Town or city | 8 | Open |
2 places to go in Fanwood
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 named trail
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.
1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Fanwood: April to June and August
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) | 9.6 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.4 | 15.1 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.9 | 9.3 |
| High (°F) | 40 | 43 | 51 | 63 | 73 | 82 | 86 | 85 | 78 | 66 | 55 | 45 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 2.9 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 4.4 |
February is the driest month (2.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 86 °F). 5.0 inches fall in July, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 86 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Fanwood →
Fanwood and its neighbors
Fanwood 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fanwood | 3% | 0.7 | 4 | 99%+ | B |
| Scotch Plains Township | 21% | 1.7 | 50 | 98% | A+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Fanwood
Where can I hike in Fanwood?
The longest trail networks: Forest Road Park, 0.4 miles; Fanwood Nature Center, 0.2 miles; Lagrande Park, 0.2 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Fanwood is conserved land?
3% of its land, against a typical 11% for a New Jersey town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Fanwood’s trails?
Forest Road Park and Fanwood Nature Center don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Fanwood?
26,723 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Fanwood or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 28 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Fanwood have?
Ahead of 65% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #372 of 468 in New Jersey. 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 Fanwood 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 →