Spencer City Park
Park
19 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Spencer
Few parks or trails are on the map in Spencer
22% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.8 miles of mapped trail cross Spencer, 0.1 per square mile of land. 20 acres are parks and preserves, 13 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 21% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
7 acres · of 6.6 sq mi of land
Trails
0.8 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
20 ac
13 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
22%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Spencer have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Spencer is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Spencer’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical TN town 1% · U.S. 4%C−Trails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · TN 0.2 · U.S. 0.4CPark land13 acres of park per 1,000 residents (20 acres) · TN 10 · U.S. 13B−Parks close to home22% of residents within a half mile of a park · TN 42% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 21%
LessMore
Few Tennessee towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Spencer’s under 1% is ahead of 14% of Tennessee towns, while its trails per square mile lead 37% of them.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Spencer. 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
The longest trail network is Spencer City Park, with 0.3 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
7 conserved acres
under 1% of Spencer’s land. Who manages Spencer’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State conservation5 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits2 ac
State Other or Unknown · 5 acForest Stewardship Easement · 2 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 2 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 2 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mullican State Other or Unknown | State conservation | 5 | Unknown |
Things to do
2 places to go in Spencer
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Spencer
2 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
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
4Tennis
2Baseball
2Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Spencer: April to 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) | 10.0 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.0 | 14.6 | 14.3 | 13.5 | 12.3 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 45 | 49 | 58 | 68 | 75 | 82 | 85 | 84 | 79 | 69 | 57 | 48 |
| Rain (in) | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 4.6 | 6.0 |
October is the driest month (3.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 6.0 inches fall in December, the wettest month. The climate in Spencer →
Questions about parks and trails in Spencer
Where can I hike in Spencer?
The longest trail networks: Spencer City Park, 0.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Spencer is conserved land?
under 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.
Are dogs allowed on Spencer’s trails?
Spencer City Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Spencer?
3,580 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Spencer or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 20 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Spencer have?
Ahead of 21% 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 Spencer 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 →