Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Manchester

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
RichmondNSEWPhoto: wikipedia inglesa · CC BY-SA 3.0
COutdoors
Outdoors in Manchester

Few parks or trails are on the map in Manchester

4.9 miles of mapped trail cross Manchester, 0.8 per square mile of land. 37 acres are parks and preserves, 2.9 per 1,000 residents. 43% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 34% of U.S. towns · #209 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it

Conserved land
1%
33 acres · of 5.9 sq mi of land
Trails
4.9 mi
0.8 per sq mi of land
Park land
37 ac
2.9 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
43%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
3.1 mi
1.7 mi lanes · 1.4 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
2

What kind of outdoors town is Manchester?

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

A trail town0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 76% of U.S. towns.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Manchester have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Manchester is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #209 of 253 in Virginia. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.

C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Manchester’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical VA town 4% · U.S. 4%CTrails0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (5 mi) · VA 0.7 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land2.9 acres of park per 1,000 residents (37 acres) · VA 8 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home43% of residents within a half mile of a park · VA 76% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 34%
LessMore
Virginia towns of 2,500+ (253)Ahead of 17%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− 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
Who protects it

33 conserved acres

1% of Manchester’s land. Who manages Manchester’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Town or city33 ac
Local Park · 33 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Provindence Athletic Complex
Local Park
Town or city23Open
Davis Athletic Complex
Local Park
Town or city10Open
Things to do

9 places to go in Manchester

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Playgrounds in Manchester

8 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.

Trails & water

2 lakes & rivers

Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Napiers and Savage LakelakeRock Creek Park Lakereservoir
Biking & sports

3.1 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

1.7 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
1.4 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
4Tennis
2Soccer
1Basketball

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

When to get out

The best walking months in Manchester: 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.810.811.913.114.214.714.513.612.411.110.19.6
High (°F)485260717885898781716051
Rain (in)3.52.84.03.54.24.34.54.54.63.73.33.7

February is the driest month (2.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 4.6 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Manchester →

Next door

Manchester and its neighbors

Manchester has the second most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Richmond103 miManchester4.9 miRockwood4.8 miBon Air3.9 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Manchester1%0.8343%C
Richmond8%1.71194%A
Rockwood8%0.92535%B+
Bon Air1%0.5445%C

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Manchester

How much of Manchester is conserved land?

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 Manchester?

3.1 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.7 of painted or protected lanes and 1.4 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Manchester?

14,890 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Manchester or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 37 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Manchester have?

Ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #209 of 253 in Virginia. 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 Manchester 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 →