Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Rutherford
4% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.1 miles of mapped trail cross Rutherford. 1% of Rutherford’s land is conserved, about 16 acres.
Ahead of 19% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Rutherford have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Rutherford is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
Few Tennessee towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Rutherford’s 1% is ahead of 40% of Tennessee towns, while its trails per square mile lead 21% 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.
16 conserved acres
1% of Rutherford’s land. Who manages Rutherford’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rutherford Community Center Local Park | Town or city | 16 | Open |
The walking year in Rutherford
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 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 46 | 51 | 61 | 71 | 79 | 87 | 89 | 89 | 83 | 73 | 60 | 50 |
| Rain (in) | 4.1 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 5.6 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 5.1 |
August is the driest month (3.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 5.6 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Rutherford →
Questions about parks and trails in Rutherford
How much of Rutherford is conserved land?
1% 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 Rutherford?
579 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Rutherford or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 17 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Rutherford have?
Ahead of 19% 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 Rutherford 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 →