Photo: Jessamyn West · CC BY-SA 3.013% of Braintree’s land is conserved: 3,099 acres
17 miles of mapped trail cross Braintree, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Braintree?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Braintree have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Braintree is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
Vermont towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 14%; the U.S., 4%), so Braintree’s 13% is ahead of 42% of Vermont towns, while its trails per square mile lead 34% of them.
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.
3,099 conserved acres
13% of Braintree’s land. Who manages Braintree’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,690 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 29 of 62 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| New England Forestry Foundation Private Conservation | Not recorded | 1,356 | Unknown |
| Todah Hill Foundation Site Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 47 | Closed |
| White River Streambank State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 6 | Open |
8 places to go in Braintree
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
4 named trails and 8 lakes & rivers
0.0 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 best walking months in Braintree: May, August and September
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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 28 | 31 | 39 | 53 | 66 | 74 | 79 | 77 | 70 | 57 | 44 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 2.9 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
February is the driest month (2.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 4.5 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Braintree →
Braintree and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braintree | 13% | 0.4 | under 1 | under 1% | C |
| Rochester | 42% | 0.3 | 501 | 37% | A− |
| Randolph | 9% | 0.2 | 31 | 36% | B |
| Granville | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Brookfield | 6% | 0.1 | 673 | 13% | B− |
| Roxbury | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Bethel | 6% | 0.1 | 290 | 43% | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Braintree
How much of Braintree is conserved land?
13% of its land, against a typical 14% for a Vermont town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Braintree?
51,508 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Braintree or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 6 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Braintree have?
Ahead of 29% 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 Braintree 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 →