Hamilton Park
Managed by Castle Shannon Borough
9 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
BOutdoors
Outdoors in Castle Shannon
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Castle Shannon
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 27 acres are parks and preserves, 3.3 per 1,000 residents. 0.7 miles of mapped trail cross Castle Shannon, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 59% of U.S. towns · #649 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
26 acres · of 1.6 sq mi of land
Trails
0.7 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
27 ac
3.3 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Castle Shannon?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Castle Shannon have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Castle Shannon is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #649 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Castle Shannon’s overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical PA town 8% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · PA 0.4 · U.S. 0.4BPark land3.3 acres of park per 1,000 residents (27 acres) · PA 14 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · PA 73% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 59%
LessMore
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,037)Ahead of 37%
Pennsylvania towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 8%; the U.S., 4%), so Castle Shannon’s 3% is ahead of 17% of Pennsylvania towns, while its trails per square mile lead 50% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ 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.
All 5 parks & preserves
Hamilton Park9 acres · Castle Shannon Borough
DirectionsO'Brien Field5 acres
DirectionsMunicipal Center2 acres
DirectionsRiehl Park2 acres
DirectionsBethel Green1 acres
DirectionsWho protects it
26 conserved acres
3% of Castle Shannon’s land. Who manages Castle Shannon’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Other or Unknown Local Government23 ac
Not recorded2 ac
Local Park · 16 acLocal Recreation Area · 9 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 5 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton Park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 9 | Open |
| O'Brien Field Local Recreation Area | Other or Unknown Local Government | 5 | Open |
| Castle Shannon Municipal Center Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 5 | Open |
| Riehl Field Local Recreation Area | Other or Unknown Local Government | 4 | Open |
| Armstrong Park Local Park | Not recorded | 2 | Unknown |
Things to do
12 places to go in Castle Shannon
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Castle Shannon
11 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Dog parks in Castle Shannon
1 dog park without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
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
5Baseball
2Basketball
2Tennis
1Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Castle Shannon: April 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 | 15.0 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.9 | 9.3 |
| High (°F) | 37 | 40 | 50 | 63 | 72 | 80 | 83 | 82 | 76 | 64 | 52 | 41 |
| Rain (in) | 3.0 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
February is the driest month (2.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Castle Shannon →
Next door
Castle Shannon and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Pittsburgh118 miBethel Park17 miMount Lebanon8.9 miWhitehall2.2 miCastle Shannon0.7 miBaldwin Township0.6 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castle Shannon | 3% | 0.4 | 3 | 99%+ | B |
| Mount Lebanon | 7% | 1.5 | 8 | 95% | A− |
| Baldwin Township | 10% | 1.2 | 16 | 99%+ | A |
| Whitehall | 3% | 0.7 | 6 | 99%+ | B+ |
| Bethel Park | 12% | 1.5 | 25 | 92% | A |
| Pittsburgh | 12% | 2.1 | 15 | 99% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Castle Shannon
How much of Castle Shannon is conserved land?
3% of its land, against a typical 8% for a Pennsylvania town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Castle Shannon’s trails?
Hamilton Park and O'Brien Field don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Castle Shannon?
16,051 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Castle Shannon or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 27 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Castle Shannon have?
Ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #649 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. 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 Castle Shannon 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 →