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GlennmaryGlennmary · Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Riverdale

Riverdale has 8.3 miles of mapped trails, 1.0 for every square mile of land

OpenStreetMap doesn’t show named parks or mapped trails in Riverdale 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 16% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
under 1%
9 acres · of 8.1 sq mi of land
Trails
8.3 mi
1.0 per sq mi of land
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1

What kind of outdoors town is Riverdale?

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

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Riverdale have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Riverdale is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Riverdale’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 16%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Riverdale. 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
Who protects it

9 conserved acres

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

Army Corps of Engineers17 ac
Other Easement · 9 acConservation Easement · 8 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 9 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.

Trails & water

1 named trail and 1 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Dogwood Trail0.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
History along the way

1 place on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).

History →
GlennmaryBuilding · listed 1979
About it
When to get out

April is the best month for walking in Riverdale

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)9.910.811.913.114.114.714.413.512.411.210.29.7
High (°F)495260707785888780716051
Rain (in)3.52.84.03.64.44.34.03.94.53.43.43.6

February is the driest month (2.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 4.5 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Riverdale →

Next door

Riverdale and its neighbors

Riverdale has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

TownConserved
of land
Trail mi
per sq mi
Park acres
per 1,000
Near a park
½ mile
Outdoors
Riverdaleunder 1%1.0under 1under 1%C−
South Boston15%1.12066%A−

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

Questions about parks and trails in Riverdale

How much of Riverdale 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 Riverdale?

5,825 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Riverdale or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), almost none of it inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Riverdale have?

Ahead of 16% 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 Riverdale 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 →