Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Decatur
37% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 4% of Decatur’s land is conserved, about 90 acres. 19 acres are parks and preserves, 10 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 25% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Decatur?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Decatur have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Decatur is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
Few Tennessee towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Decatur’s 4% is ahead of 70% of Tennessee towns, while its trails per square mile lead 5% of them.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
90 conserved acres
4% of Decatur’s land. Who manages Decatur’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 1 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Not Designated | Tennessee Valley Authority | 90 | Unknown |
4 places to go in Decatur
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
1 lakes & rivers
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
6 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Decatur: April to June
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) | 10.0 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 13.5 | 12.3 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.8 |
| High (°F) | 49 | 53 | 62 | 72 | 79 | 86 | 89 | 88 | 83 | 72 | 61 | 52 |
| Rain (in) | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.6 | 5.2 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 3.4 | 4.7 | 6.2 |
October is the driest month (3.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 6.2 inches fall in December, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Decatur →
Questions about parks and trails in Decatur
How much of Decatur is conserved land?
4% of its land, against a typical 1% for a Tennessee town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Decatur?
248 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Decatur or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 19 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Decatur have?
Ahead of 25% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. 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 Decatur neighbors.
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 →