Photo: LR6 at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Independence
5% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 1.4 miles of mapped trail cross Independence, 0.6 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 14% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Independence have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Independence is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
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.
4 conserved acres
under 1% of Independence’s land. Who manages Independence’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 4 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 3 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
1 places to go in Independence
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
0.4 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.
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.
The best walking months in Independence: April and June 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) | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 43 | 47 | 54 | 64 | 72 | 78 | 81 | 80 | 75 | 65 | 55 | 46 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 3.0 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 3.4 |
February is the driest month (3.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 4.7 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Independence →
Questions about parks and trails in Independence
How much of Independence 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.
Where can I bike in Independence?
0.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.4 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Independence?
1,725 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Independence or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), almost none of it inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Independence 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 Independence 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 →