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Bay Street Downtown BeaufortPhoto: BeaufortTiger of English Wikipedia · Public domain
C+Outdoors
Outdoors in Beaufort

Beaufort has 8.2 miles of mapped trails, 0.3 for every square mile of land

1% of Beaufort’s land is conserved, about 154 acres. 128 acres are parks and preserves, 9.3 per 1,000 residents. 65% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 40% of U.S. towns · #66 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it

Conserved land
1%
154 acres · of 24.5 sq mi of land
Trails
8.2 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
128 ac
9.3 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
65%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
5.4 mi
0.8 mi lanes · 4.7 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
1

What kind of outdoors town is Beaufort?

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

History along the way14 places on the National Register.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Beaufort have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Beaufort is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns, #66 of 169 in South Carolina. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.

C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Beaufort’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical SC town 1% · U.S. 4%CTrails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (8 mi) · SC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land9.3 acres of park per 1,000 residents (128 acres) · SC 6 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home65% of residents within a half mile of a park · SC 52% · U.S. 72%B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 40%
LessMore
South Carolina towns of 2,500+ (169)Ahead of 61%

Few South Carolina towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Beaufort’s 1% is ahead of 44% of South Carolina towns, while its trails per square mile lead 66% of them.

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

Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Southside Park

Managed by City of Beaufort
39 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Pigeon Point Park

Park
7 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Barnwell Bluff

Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Kate Gleason Park

Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 5 parks & preserves
Southside Park39 acres · City of Beaufort
Directions
Pigeon Point Park7 acres
Directions
Barnwell Bluff4 acres
Kate Gleason Park2 acres
Randolph Park2 acres
Who protects it

154 conserved acres

1% of Beaufort’s land. Who manages Beaufort’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Town or city57 ac
County40 ac
Joint35 ac
Private owners19 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits1 ac
Department of Defense1 ac
Local Park · 98 acUnknown Easement · 35 acLocal Recreation Area · 19 acAgricultural Easement · 1 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 37 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 29 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Southside Park
Local Park
Town or city31Open
Whitehall Park
Local Park
Private owners19Open
Author Horne Nature Park
Local Park
County18Open
Basil Green Complex
Local Recreation Area
County9Open
Pigeon Point Park
Local Park
Town or city7Open
Bob Jones Field
Local Recreation Area
County5Open
Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park
Local Park
Town or city4Open
Southside Tennis Courts
Local Park
County4Open
Barnwell Bluff
Local Park
Town or city4Open
Battery Saxton Park
Local Park
Town or city2Open

5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.

Things to do

11 places to go in Beaufort

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

Playgrounds in Beaufort
Neighborhood Playground
Directions
Palmetto Playhouse
Directions
Pigeon Point ParkIn Pigeon Point Park
Directions

Plus 4 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
Federal Street Pondpond
Biking & sports

5.4 miles of bike routes

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

0.8 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
4.7 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
14Tennis
14Golf
13Baseball
4Soccer
4Basketball
2Pickleball

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

History along the way

14 places on the National Register, 3 of them National Historic Landmarks

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 →
★
Beaufort Historic DistrictNational Historic Landmark · District · listed 1969
About it
★
MarshlandsNational Historic Landmark · Building · listed 1973
About it
★
Robert Smalls HouseNational Historic Landmark · Building · listed 1974
About it
William Barnwell HouseBuilding · listed 1971
About it
Tabby ManseBuilding · listed 1971
About it
John Mark Verdier HouseBuilding · listed 1971
About it
Anchorage, TheBuilding · listed 1971
About it
John A. Cuthbert HouseBuilding · listed 1972
About it
Barnwell-Gough HouseBuilding · listed 1972
About it
Little Barnwell IslandStructure · listed 1973
About it
Beaufort National CemeterySite · listed 1997
About it
Seacoast Packing CompanyBuilding · listed 2008
About it

2 more on the History page.

When to get out

The best walking months in Beaufort: 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)10.211.011.912.913.814.314.113.312.311.310.410.0
High (°F)606369768388918985776962
Rain (in)3.43.23.43.33.15.45.96.54.54.02.63.2

November is the driest month (2.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 91 °F). 6.5 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 91 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Beaufort →

Next door

Beaufort and its neighbors

Beaufort has the second most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Port Royal9.5 miBeaufort8.2 miLaurel Bay0.2 miBurton0.1 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Beaufort1%0.3965%C+
Burton2%under 0.11018%C−
Port Royalunder 1%0.5550%C
Laurel Bay41%under 0.1113%C

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

Questions about parks and trails in Beaufort

How much of Beaufort is conserved land?

1% of its land, against a typical 1% for a South Carolina town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Beaufort’s trails?

Southside Park and Pigeon Point Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Beaufort?

5.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.8 of painted or protected lanes and 4.7 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Beaufort?

23,358 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Beaufort or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 128 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Beaufort have?

Ahead of 40% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #66 of 169 in South Carolina. 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 Beaufort 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 →