Freedom Sound Park
Park
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
COutdoors
Outdoors in Laurel Bay
41% of Laurel Bay’s land is conserved: 1,097 acres
6 acres are parks and preserves, 1.0 per 1,000 residents. 13% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.2 miles of mapped trail cross Laurel Bay.
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns · #93 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it
Conserved land
41%
1,097 acres · of 4.2 sq mi of land
Trails
0.2 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
6 ac
1.0 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
13%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Laurel Bay?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Laurel Bay have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Laurel Bay is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns, #93 of 169 in South Carolina. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Laurel Bay’s overall grade.
Conserved land41% of the land · typical SC town 1% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · SC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4C−Park land1.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (6 acres) · SC 6 · U.S. 13DParks close to home13% of residents within a half mile of a park · SC 52% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 29%
LessMore
South Carolina towns of 2,500+ (169)Ahead of 45%
Few South Carolina towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Laurel Bay’s 41% is ahead of 99% of South Carolina towns, while its trails per square mile lead 25% of them.
Water is 18% of Laurel Bay’s area (1 of 5 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 34%.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Laurel Bay. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. 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.
Who protects it
1,097 conserved acres
41% of Laurel Bay’s land. Water is left out: Laurel Bay has 4.2 square miles of land and 0.9 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Laurel Bay’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Joint1,097 ac
County37 ac
Unknown Easement · 1,097 acLocal Other or Unknown · 37 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,060 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 3 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| E. Adams Tract Local Other or Unknown | County | 37 | Unknown |
Things to do
1 places to go in Laurel Bay
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Laurel Bay
1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
When to get out
The best walking months in Laurel Bay: 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) | 10.2 | 11.0 | 11.9 | 12.9 | 13.8 | 14.3 | 14.1 | 13.3 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 10.0 |
| High (°F) | 60 | 63 | 69 | 76 | 83 | 88 | 91 | 89 | 85 | 77 | 68 | 62 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 4.6 | 3.9 | 2.7 | 3.2 |
November is the driest month (2.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 91 °F). 6.4 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 91 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Laurel Bay →
Next door
Laurel Bay and its neighbors
Laurel Bay has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Laurel Bay
How much of Laurel Bay is conserved land?
41% 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 Laurel Bay’s trails?
Freedom Sound Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Laurel Bay?
3,286 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Laurel Bay or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 6 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Laurel Bay have?
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #93 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 Laurel Bay 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 →