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Fillmore Chapel United Methodist Church, Porter, New York - 20220629Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0
BOutdoors
Outdoors in Porter

Porter has 606 acres of parks, 94 for every 1,000 residents

The biggest trail networks: Fort Niagara State Park (1.4 mi). 46% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 3% of Porter’s land is conserved, about 615 acres.

Ahead of 58% of U.S. towns · #470 of 758 in New York. What drives it

Conserved land
3%
615 acres · of 33.1 sq mi of land
Trails
9.5 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
606 ac
94 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
46%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.3 mi
1.3 mi paths

What kind of outdoors town is Porter?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Room to roam94 acres of park per 1,000 residents; the typical U.S. town has 13.History along the way4 places on the National Register.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Porter have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Porter is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #470 of 758 in New York. 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 Porter’s overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical NY town 5% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (10 mi) · NY 0.4 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land94 acres of park per 1,000 residents (606 acres) · NY 31 · U.S. 13AParks close to home46% of residents within a half mile of a park · NY 70% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 58%
LessMore
New York towns of 2,500+ (758)Ahead of 38%

Water is 12% of Porter’s area (5 of 38 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 3%.

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.

1234
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 Fort Niagara State Park, with 1.4 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Fort Niagara State Park

Managed by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
269 acres1.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗

Four Mile Creek State Park

Managed by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
267 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗

Porter on the Lake Park

Park
23 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Joseph Davis State Park

Managed by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Who protects it

615 conserved acres

3% of Porter’s land. Water is left out: Porter has 33.1 square miles of land and 4.6 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Porter’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State parks552 ac
Town or city72 ac
State Park · 574 acLocal Park · 41 acState Historic or Cultural Area · 8 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 9 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Four Mile Creek State Park
State Park
State parks272Open
Fort Niagara State Park
State Park
State parks269Open
Town Of Porter Land
Local Park
Town or city30Unknown
Veteran'S Park
State Park
Town or city29Open
Village Of Youngstown Land
Local Park
Town or city12Unknown
Old Fort Niagara State Historic Site
State Historic or Cultural Area
State parks8Open
Joseph Davis State Park
State Park
State parks2Open
Faulkner Park
State Park
Town or city2Open
Things to do

19 places to go in Porter

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Public pools in Porter
Competition PoolIn Fort Niagara State Park
Directions
Falkner Park Wading Pool
Directions
Kiddie PoolIn Fort Niagara State Park
Directions
Slide PoolIn Fort Niagara State Park
Directions
Trails & water

1 named trail

Named trails
Open to bikes · 0.5 miUnpaved · 0.6 mi
Footpath between Youngstown Village and Youngstown Estates0.5 mi
Biking & sports

1.3 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

1.3 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
8Soccer
3Baseball
2Basketball
2Tennis
1Beach volleyball

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

4 places on the National Register, one a National Historic Landmark

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 12 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
★
Old Fort Niagara-Colonial Niagara Historic DistrictNational Historic Landmark · District · listed 1966
About it
Fort Niagara LightBuilding · listed 1984
About it
St. John's Episcopal ChurchBuilding · listed 1990
About it
John Carter FarmsteadBuilding · listed 2007
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Porter: May 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.310.411.813.414.715.415.113.912.410.99.69.0
High (°F)333441536575797972594838
Rain (in)2.21.82.23.13.13.13.22.73.43.12.72.4

February is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 3.4 inches fall in September, the wettest month. The climate in Porter →

Next door

Porter and its neighbors

Porter has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Lewiston26 miPorter9.5 miWilson8.0 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Porter3%0.39446%B
Lewiston3%0.78853%B+
Wilson2%0.28733%B−

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Porter

Where can I hike in Porter?

The longest trail networks: Fort Niagara State Park, 1.4 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Porter is conserved land?

3% 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 Porter’s trails?

Fort Niagara State Park and Four Mile Creek State Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Porter?

1.3 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.3 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Porter?

4,467 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Porter or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 606 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Porter have?

Ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #470 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 Porter neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →