Martin Van Buren National Historic Site
Managed by National Park Service
282 acres0.7 mi of trail
Dutch Farming Heritage Trail
Dogs usually limited
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Kinderhook
Kinderhook has 390 acres of parks, 47 for every 1,000 residents
The biggest trail networks: Martin Van Buren National Historic Site (0.7 mi). 7% of Kinderhook’s land is conserved, about 1,526 acres. 8.6 miles of mapped trail cross Kinderhook, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 68% of U.S. towns · #364 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Conserved land
7%
1,526 acres · of 31.8 sq mi of land
Trails
8.6 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
390 ac
47 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
61%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
9.8 mi
5.0 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
5
1 boat launch
What kind of outdoors town is Kinderhook?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Kinderhook have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Kinderhook is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns, #364 of 758 in New York. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Kinderhook’s overall grade.
Conserved land7% of the land · typical NY town 5% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (9 mi) · NY 0.4 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land47 acres of park per 1,000 residents (390 acres) · NY 31 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home61% of residents within a half mile of a park · NY 70% · U.S. 72%B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 68%
LessMore
New York towns of 2,500+ (758)Ahead of 52%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B 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
The longest trail network is Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, with 0.7 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Rothermel Park
Managed by Village of Kinderhook
8 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
1,526 conserved acres
7% of Kinderhook’s land. Who manages Kinderhook’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits2,419 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)231 ac
Other state land188 ac
Town or city83 ac
National Park Service52 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government40 ac
Other or Unknown Federal Land7 ac
Agricultural Easement · 2,022 acConservation Easement · 629 acState Resource Management Area · 188 acLocal Park · 103 acHistoric or Cultural Area · 44 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,189 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 8 of 72 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Univ College of Agriculture and Life Sci Ag* State Resource Management Area | Other state land | 188 | Open |
| Martin Van Buren National Historic Site Historic or Cultural Area | National Park Service | 44 | Restricted |
| Village of Valatie Land Local Park | Town or city | 39 | Open |
| Mills Park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 21 | Open |
| Pachaquack Preserve Local Conservation Area | Town or city | 15 | Open |
| Town Of Kinderhook Land Local Park | Town or city | 12 | Unknown |
| Valatie Village Lands Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 10 | Open |
| Village of Kinderhook Land Local Park | Town or city | 7 | Unknown |
| Grandview Waterworks Corp Land Local Park | Town or city | 5 | Unknown |
| Unknown Park Local Park | Town or city | 4 | Open |
4 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
6 places to go in Kinderhook
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Kinderhook
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Boat launches in Kinderhook
1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Waterfalls in Kinderhook
3 waterfalls without a name on the map.
Trails & water
3 named trails and 5 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 1.9 mi
Dutch Farming Heritage Trail1.0 mi
Pachaquack Preserve trail0.8 mi
River Street Park trail0.6 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
9.8 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
5.0 mi
off-road bike paths
4.7 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
13Baseball
3Tennis
3Basketball
1Multi-sport
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →10 places on the National Register, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 9 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
Kinderhook Village DistrictDistrict · listed 1974
About itFirst Presbyterian ChurchBuilding · listed 1979
About itWild's Mill ComplexDistrict · listed 1982
About itNathan Wild HouseBuilding · listed 1991
About itCrow HillBuilding · listed 1997
About itVan Buren, Martin, National Historic SiteDistrict · listed 2012
About itPersons of Color Cemetery at KinderhookSite · listed 2016
About itPeter Sander Van Alstyne HouseBuilding · listed 2021
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Kinderhook: 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) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.3 | 15.0 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°F) | 34 | 37 | 46 | 60 | 71 | 79 | 84 | 82 | 74 | 62 | 50 | 39 |
| Rain (in) | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
February is the driest month (2.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.3 inches fall in August, the wettest month. The climate in Kinderhook →
Next door
Kinderhook and its neighbors
Kinderhook has the second most mapped trails of the 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinderhook | 7% | 0.3 | 47 | 61% | B+ |
| Chatham | 6% | 0.1 | 28 | 21% | B− |
| Stuyvesant | 38% | 0.1 | 456 | 43% | B+ |
| Ghent | 10% | 0.2 | 46 | 54% | B+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Kinderhook
Where can I hike in Kinderhook?
The longest trail networks: Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, 0.7 miles; Rothermel Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Kinderhook is conserved land?
7% of its land, against a typical 5% for a New York town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Kinderhook’s trails?
Martin Van Buren National Historic Site and Rothermel Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Kinderhook?
9.8 miles of bike routes are on the map: 5.0 of off-road paths and 4.7 of shoulders and shared lanes.
Is there public land near Kinderhook?
14,612 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Kinderhook or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 579 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Kinderhook have?
Ahead of 68% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #364 of 758 in New York. 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 Kinderhook 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 →