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BentivarBentivar · Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
DOutdoors
Outdoors in Hampden-Sydney

Hampden-Sydney has 5.3 miles of mapped trails, 1.4 for every square mile of land

OpenStreetMap doesn’t show named parks or mapped trails in Hampden-Sydney yet. Know a trail or a town park? Anyone can add it to OpenStreetMap, and it shows up here on the next refresh.

Ahead of 14% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 3.9 sq mi of land
Trails
5.3 mi
1.4 per sq mi of land
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
3

What kind of outdoors town is Hampden-Sydney?

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

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Hampden-Sydney have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Hampden-Sydney is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

D
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Hampden-Sydney’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 14%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Hampden-Sydney. 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
Trails & water

2 named trails and 3 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Wilson Trail2.2 mi
Cut-off Trail0.1 mi
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
6Tennis
4Soccer
3Football
3Lacrosse
2Baseball

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

History along the way

1 place on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 1 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
Hampden-Sydney College Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1970
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Hampden-Sydney: April to June and 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.910.811.913.114.214.714.513.612.411.210.19.6
High (°F)475159697684878679695950
Rain (in)3.52.84.03.64.33.94.43.84.53.83.53.7

February is the driest month (2.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 4.5 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Hampden-Sydney →

Questions about parks and trails in Hampden-Sydney

How much of Hampden-Sydney is conserved land?

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

Is there public land near Hampden-Sydney?

13,708 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Hampden-Sydney or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), almost none of it inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Hampden-Sydney have?

Ahead of 14% 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 Hampden-Sydney 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 →