New Haven Commons
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Dismas · CC BY-SA 3.0COutdoors
Outdoors in New Haven
15% of New Haven’s land is conserved: 3,902 acres
5% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 1 acre is park or preserve, 0.8 per 1,000 residents. 11 miles of mapped trail cross New Haven, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 32% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
15%
3,902 acres · of 41.2 sq mi of land
Trails
11 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
1 ac
0.8 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
5%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
5
What kind of outdoors town is New Haven?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does New Haven have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, New Haven is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of New Haven’s overall grade.
Conserved land15% of the land · typical VT town 14% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (11 mi) · VT 0.6 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land0.8 acres of park per 1,000 residents (1 acre) · VT 97 · U.S. 13DParks close to home5% of residents within a half mile of a park · VT 38% · U.S. 72%D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 32%
LessMore
Vermont towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 14%; the U.S., 4%), so New Haven’s 15% is ahead of 52% of Vermont towns, while its trails per square mile lead 14% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. 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
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
3,902 conserved acres
15% of New Haven’s land. Who manages New Haven’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits6,333 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)1,813 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government655 ac
State conservation223 ac
Other or Unknown Federal Land141 ac
State fish & wildlife88 ac
Not recorded20 ac
Agricultural Easement · 5,137 acConservation Easement · 3,860 acUnknown Easement · 226 acPrivate Conservation · 50 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 3,852 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 62 of 183 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otter Creek Gorge Land Trust Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 30 | Unknown |
| Middlebury Area Land Trust Private Conservation | Not recorded | 20 | Unknown |
Things to do
1 places to go in New Haven
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Waterfalls in New Haven
Dog Team Falls
DirectionsTrails & water
2 named trails and 5 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Open to bikes · 0.6 mi
Trail Around Middlebury1.0 mi
Town Highway 230.8 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
MTB TAMBike route
0.5 miCourts & fields
1Equestrian
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →5 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.
When to get out
The best walking months in New Haven: 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) | 29 | 32 | 41 | 56 | 68 | 77 | 82 | 80 | 72 | 59 | 46 | 35 |
| Rain (in) | 2.4 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
February is the driest month (1.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 4.4 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in New Haven →
Next door
New Haven and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Middlebury79 miBristol24 miAddison20 miFerrisburgh17 miWeybridge17 miNew Haven11 miMonkton11 miWaltham1.4 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Haven | 15% | 0.3 | 1 | 5% | C |
| Weybridge | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Bristol | 30% | 0.6 | 51 | 53% | A− |
| Waltham | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Middlebury | 28% | 2.0 | 40 | 72% | A |
| Monkton | 12% | 0.3 | 150 | 12% | B |
| Ferrisburgh | 39% | 0.4 | 1,084 | 36% | A− |
| Addison | 45% | 0.5 | 796 | 50% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in New Haven
How much of New Haven is conserved land?
15% 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.
Are dogs allowed on New Haven’s trails?
New Haven Commons doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near New Haven?
44,247 acres of parks and open public land lie inside New Haven or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 45 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does New Haven have?
Ahead of 32% 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 New Haven neighbors.
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 →