Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Chester has 553 acres of parks, 185 for every 1,000 residents
44 miles of mapped trail cross Chester, 0.8 per square mile of land. 3% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 4% of Chester’s land is conserved, about 1,479 acres.
Ahead of 62% of U.S. towns · #60 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Chester?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Chester have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Chester is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #60 of 71 in Vermont. Park acres per resident hold 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 Chester’s 4% is ahead of 7% of Vermont towns, while its trails per square mile lead 53% 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.
1,479 conserved acres
4% of Chester’s land. Who manages Chester’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 560 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 10 of 34 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chester Town Forest Local Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 548 | Unknown |
| Green Mountain Union High School Forest Local Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 120 | Unknown |
| Williams River State Forest State Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 106 | Open |
| Vermont Land Trust Private Conservation | Not recorded | 89 | Closed |
| Town of Chester - Adams Lot Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 29 | Unknown |
| Hadley Lot Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 14 | Unknown |
| Williams River Access State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 8 | Open |
| New England Forestry Foundation Private Conservation | Not recorded | 4 | Unknown |
| Town of Chester Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Unknown |
8 places to go in Chester
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
3 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
5 named trails and 5 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.
6 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 4 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
The best walking months in Chester: May to 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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 30 | 33 | 41 | 54 | 67 | 75 | 80 | 78 | 71 | 58 | 46 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 3.7 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 3.8 | 4.4 |
February is the driest month (3.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.9 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Chester →
Chester and its neighbors
Chester has the most mapped trails of the 6 towns around it. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester | 4% | 0.8 | 185 | 3% | B |
| Springfield | 6% | 0.3 | 108 | 59% | B+ |
| Andover | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Ludlow | 14% | 0.8 | 368 | 41% | A− |
| Windham | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Grafton | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Chester
How much of Chester is conserved land?
4% 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 Chester?
40,537 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Chester or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 670 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Chester have?
Ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #60 of 71 in Vermont. 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 Chester 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 →