Manson Park
Park
16 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Allen House · Photo: ClassicLady · CC BY-SA 3.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Shrewsbury
8% of Shrewsbury’s land is conserved, and virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 8% of Shrewsbury’s land is conserved, about 113 acres. 102 acres are parks and preserves, 24 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 78% of U.S. towns · #293 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Conserved land
8%
113 acres · of 2.2 sq mi of land
Trails
0.3 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
102 ac
24 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Shrewsbury?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Shrewsbury have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Shrewsbury is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns, #293 of 468 in New Jersey. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Shrewsbury’s overall grade.
Conserved land8% of the land · typical NJ town 11% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · NJ 0.7 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land24 acres of park per 1,000 residents (102 acres) · NJ 25 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · NJ 98% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 78%
LessMore
New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 37%
New Jersey towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 11%; the U.S., 4%), so Shrewsbury’s 8% is ahead of 39% of New Jersey towns, while its trails per square mile lead 16% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. 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.
John Parker Park
Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
113 conserved acres
8% of Shrewsbury’s land. Who manages Shrewsbury’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city113 ac
Not recorded11 ac
Local Conservation Area · 58 acLocal Recreation Area · 32 acLocal Park · 20 acUnknown Easement · 12 acLocal Resource Management Area · 2 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 12 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straus Doechester Trafalgar Easement Local Conservation Area | Town or city | 38 | Open |
| Manson Park Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 16 | Open |
| unknown Local Park | Not recorded | 11 | Open |
| Esther Hymer Local Conservation Area | Town or city | 11 | Open |
| Sickles Rec Area Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 10 | Open |
| Shrewsbury Borough Conservation Area Local Conservation Area | Town or city | 9 | Open |
| Sycamore Park Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 6 | Open |
| Buttonwood Park Local Park | Town or city | 5 | Open |
| Parker Park Local Park | Town or city | 4 | Open |
| Shrewsbury Borough Wooded Lot Local Resource Management Area | Town or city | 2 | Open |
1 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
2 places to go in Shrewsbury
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Shrewsbury
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
6Baseball
4Basketball
4Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →4 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Shrewsbury: April to 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 | 15.0 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.9 | 9.3 |
| High (°F) | 41 | 44 | 50 | 61 | 70 | 80 | 85 | 83 | 77 | 66 | 55 | 46 |
| Rain (in) | 3.6 | 3.0 | 4.3 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 4.3 |
February is the driest month (3.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 4.6 inches fall in August, the wettest month. The climate in Shrewsbury →
Next door
Shrewsbury 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | 8% | 0.1 | 24 | 99%+ | A− |
| Eatontown | 2% | 1.7 | 17 | 98% | A− |
| Oceanport | 9% | 1.1 | 35 | 99%+ | A |
| Tinton Falls | 4% | 0.2 | 38 | 95% | B+ |
| Little Silver | 6% | 1.3 | 18 | 99%+ | A |
| Red Bank | 4% | 0.3 | 4 | 99%+ | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Shrewsbury
How much of Shrewsbury is conserved land?
8% 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 Shrewsbury’s trails?
Manson Park and John Parker Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Shrewsbury?
17,027 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Shrewsbury or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 102 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Shrewsbury have?
Ahead of 78% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #293 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 Shrewsbury 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 →