Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY 4.0Fairlee has 1,928 acres of parks, 1,809 for every 1,000 residents
36 miles of mapped trail cross Fairlee, 1.8 per square mile of land. 23% of Fairlee’s land is conserved, about 2,943 acres. 63% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 96% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Fairlee?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Fairlee have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Fairlee is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; park acres per resident rank highest, the share of residents near a park lowest.
Vermont towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 14%; the U.S., 4%), so Fairlee’s 23% is ahead of 83% of Vermont towns, while its trails per square mile lead 82% of them.
Water is 5% of Fairlee’s area (1 of 21 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 22%.
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.
2,943 conserved acres
23% of Fairlee’s land. Water is left out: Fairlee has 20.0 square miles of land and 1.1 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Fairlee’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 961 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 11 of 28 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairlee Town Forest Local Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 1,558 | Unknown |
| Upper Valley Land Trust Private Conservation | Not recorded | 220 | Open |
| Fairlee Bog Pond Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 137 | Closed |
| Fairlee Bog Pond Natural Area Private Conservation | Not recorded | 87 | Open |
| Fairlee Marsh Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 58 | Open |
| UVLT, Cliff's Cliff, Fairlee Palisades Private Conservation | Not recorded | 6 | Open |
| Lake Morey Access State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Open |
14 places to go in Fairlee
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Plus 1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
1 playground without a name on the map.
Plus 2 scenic views without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
7 named trails and 1 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.
4 places 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 Fairlee: May 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 | 40 | 53 | 67 | 75 | 79 | 78 | 70 | 57 | 44 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 3.0 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.1 | 3.5 |
February is the driest month (2.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 4.6 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Fairlee →
Fairlee and its neighbors
Fairlee has the second most mapped trails of the 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairlee | 23% | 1.8 | 1,809 | 63% | A+ |
| West Fairlee | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Bradford | 15% | 0.4 | 183 | 45% | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Fairlee
How much of Fairlee is conserved land?
23% 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 Fairlee?
24,615 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Fairlee or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1,979 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Fairlee have?
Ahead of 96% 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 Fairlee 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 →