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Trinity Episcopal Church and Parish HouseTrinity Episcopal Church and Parish House · Photo: Stephen Schweitzer · CC BY-SA 4.0
A+Outdoors
Outdoors in Watertown

Watertown has 17 miles of mapped trails, 1.9 for every square mile of land

99% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 13% of Watertown’s land is conserved, about 737 acres. The biggest trail networks: Thompson Park (9.5 mi), w (0.8 mi).

Ahead of 96% of U.S. towns · #62 of 758 in New York. What drives it

Conserved land
13%
737 acres · of 9.0 sq mi of land
Trails
17 mi
1.9 per sq mi of land
Park land
809 ac
33 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
3.7 mi
2.7 mi lanes · 0.3 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
1

What kind of outdoors town is Watertown?

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

A trail town1.9 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 92% of U.S. towns.Parks close to home99% of residents live within a half mile of a park.Land that stays wild13% of the land is conserved; a typical New York town, 5%.History along the way13 places on the National Register.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Watertown have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Watertown is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns, #62 of 758 in New York. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; trail miles rank highest, park acres per resident lowest.

A+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Watertown’s overall grade.
Conserved land13% of the land · typical NY town 5% · U.S. 4%A−Trails1.9 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (17 mi) · NY 0.4 · U.S. 0.4APark land33 acres of park per 1,000 residents (809 acres) · NY 31 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home99% of residents within a half mile of a park · NY 70% · U.S. 72%A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 96%
LessMore
New York towns of 2,500+ (758)Ahead of 92%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A 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.

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 Thompson Park, with 9.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Thompson Park

Managed by City of Watertown
418 acres9.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

w

Park
12 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Adams Recreational Park

Park
17 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Marble Street Park

Park
9 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
All 5 parks & preserves
Thompson Park418 acres · 9.5 mi of trail · City of Watertown
Directions
w12 acres · 0.8 mi of trail
Directions
Marble Street Park9 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Directions
Adams Recreational Park17 acres
Kostyk Field5 acres
Who protects it

737 conserved acres

13% of Watertown’s land. Who manages Watertown’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Town or city1,126 ac
State parks2 ac
Local Park · 1,126 acState Recreation Area · 2 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 18 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
City of Watertown Land
Local Park
Town or city648Unknown
Thompson Park
Local Park
Town or city363Open
Alex T Duffy Fairgrounds
Local Park
Town or city50Open
Waterworks Park
Local Park
Town or city15Open
John Adams Field
Local Park
Town or city13Open
Bicentennial Park
Local Park
Town or city9Open
Kostyk Playground
Local Park
Town or city6Open
Marble Street Park
Local Park
Town or city6Open
Veterans Memorial Riverwalk
Local Park
Town or city4Open
Whitewater Park
Local Park
Town or city4Open

5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.

Things to do

14 places to go in Watertown

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

Playgrounds in Watertown

11 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.

Trails & water

4 named trails and 1 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Open to bikes · 10.0 miUnpaved · 10.0 mi
Wiley Yellow Trail0.5 mi
Wiley Blue Trail0.5 mi
Wiley Orange Trail0.3 mi
Fairgrounds Trail0.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Black River
Biking & sports

3.7 miles of bike routes

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

2.7 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
0.3 mi
off-road bike paths
0.6 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
22Tennis
21Baseball
12Basketball
7Soccer
5Multi-sport
4Football
2Equestrian
2Pickleball

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

History along the way

13 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 2 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
Jefferson County Courthouse ComplexDistrict · listed 1974
About it
Paddock ArcadeBuilding · listed 1976
About it
Paddock MansionBuilding · listed 1979
About it
Flower, Roswell P., Memorial LibraryBuilding · listed 1980
About it
Watertown Masonic TempleBuilding · listed 1980
About it
Public Square Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1984
About it
Saint Paul's Episcopal ChurchBuilding · listed 1997
About it
Trinity Episcopal Church and Parish HouseBuilding · listed 2000
About it
Thomas Memorial AME Zion ChurchBuilding · listed 2002
About it
Emma Flower Taylor MansionBuilding · listed 2002
About it
Emerson PlaceBuilding · listed 2003
About it
Taylor FlatsBuilding · listed 2018
About it

1 more on the History page.

When to get out

The best walking months in Watertown: May to 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.210.411.813.414.715.515.214.012.410.99.68.9
High (°F)283140546776807971584634
Rain (in)3.42.62.83.53.43.63.43.73.94.73.93.7

February is the driest month (2.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.7 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Watertown →

Next door

Watertown and its neighbors

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

Le Ray28 miWatertown17 miPamelia4.7 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Watertown13%1.93399%A+
Pamelia9%0.1111%C
Le Rayunder 1%0.4836%C

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

Questions about parks and trails in Watertown

Where can I hike in Watertown?

The longest trail networks: Thompson Park, 9.5 miles; w, 0.8 miles; Marble Street Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Watertown is conserved land?

13% 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 Watertown’s trails?

Thompson Park and w don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Watertown?

3.7 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.7 of painted or protected lanes, 0.3 of off-road paths and 0.6 of shoulders and shared lanes.

Is there public land near Watertown?

19,143 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Watertown or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 809 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Watertown have?

Ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #62 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 Watertown 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 →