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Brock Hill SchoolhouseBrock Hill Schoolhouse · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0
BOutdoors
Outdoors in Newbury

Newbury has 617 acres of parks, 284 for every 1,000 residents

12% of Newbury’s land is conserved, about 5,022 acres. 21% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 14 miles of mapped trail cross Newbury, 0.2 per square mile of land.

Ahead of 65% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
12%
5,022 acres · of 64.0 sq mi of land
Trails
14 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
617 ac
284 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
21%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.7 mi
1.7 mi paths
Highest peak
1,742 ft
Woodchuck Mountain
Lakes & rivers
8
2 boat launches

What kind of outdoors town is Newbury?

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

Room to roam284 acres of park per 1,000 residents; the typical U.S. town has 13.Land that stays wild12% of the land is conserved; a typical Vermont town, 14%.History along the way11 places on the National Register.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Newbury have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Newbury is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Newbury’s overall grade.
Conserved land12% of the land · typical VT town 14% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (14 mi) · VT 0.6 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land284 acres of park per 1,000 residents (617 acres) · VT 97 · U.S. 13AParks close to home21% of residents within a half mile of a park · VT 38% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 65%
LessMore

Vermont towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 14%; the U.S., 4%), so Newbury’s 12% is ahead of 41% of Vermont towns, while its trails per square mile lead 10% of them.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. 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.

1
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.

Pine Mountain Wildlife Management Area

Managed by Vermont Fish & Wildlife
337 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it

5,022 conserved acres

12% of Newbury’s land. Who manages Newbury’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Land trusts & nonprofits5,106 ac
Joint1,578 ac
State conservation820 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)560 ac
Regional agency33 ac
State fish & wildlife15 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government13 ac
Conservation Easement · 3,923 acUnknown Easement · 2,387 acAgricultural Easement · 1,821 acState Conservation Area · 386 acLocal Other or Unknown · 233 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 4,159 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 45 of 113 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Pine Mountain Wildlife Management Area
State Conservation Area
Not recorded386Open
Newbury Village Watershed
Local Other or Unknown
Not recorded233Unknown
Newbury Town Forest
Local Resource Management Area
Not recorded180Unknown
Wells River Village Forest
Local Resource Management Area
Not recorded37Unknown
Former Montpelier and Wells River RR
State Other or Unknown
Not recorded14Open
Wells River Streambank
State Other or Unknown
Not recorded13Open
Things to do

15 places to go in Newbury

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Peaks in Newbury
Woodchuck Mountain1,742 ft elevation
Directions
Tucker Mountain1,690 ft elevation
Directions
Melvin Hill1,421 ft elevation · In Pine Mountain Wildlife Management Area
Directions
Brock Hill1,401 ft elevation
Directions
Jefferson Hill1,375 ft elevation
Directions
Wallace Hill1,358 ft elevation
Directions
Page Hill1,342 ft elevation
Directions
White Hill1,289 ft elevation
Directions
4 more peaks
Leighton Hill1,171 ft elevation
Directions
Town Farm Hill974 ft elevation
Directions
Pulaski Mountain922 ft elevation
Directions
Chamberlain Hill
Directions
Trails & water

4 named trails and 8 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Unpaved · 4.0 mi
Stark Trail0.7 mi
Forest Trail0.6 mi
Butson Trail0.5 mi
Roystan Ridge0.2 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Eastman PondpondHalls LakereservoirHarriman PondLong PondMuddy PondpondRound PondTenney PondpondThe Fish Pondreservoir
Biking & sports

1.7 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

1.7 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
4Tennis
1Basketball

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

11 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 5 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
Well River Graded SchoolBuilding · listed 1976
About it
Wildwood HallBuilding · listed 1978
About it
Bayley Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1983
About it
Newbury Town HouseBuilding · listed 1983
About it
Oxbow Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1983
About it
South Newbury Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1983
About it
Wells River Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1983
About it
Newbury Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1983
About it
West Newbury Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1983
About it
Brock Hill SchoolhouseBuilding · listed 2003
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Newbury: 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.210.411.813.414.715.515.214.012.410.99.68.9
High (°F)283140546776807971574433
Rain (in)2.62.22.53.23.43.94.44.03.34.33.03.2

February is the driest month (2.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.4 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Newbury →

Next door

Newbury and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Haverhill39 miTopsham14 miNewbury14 miBradford13 miRyegate5.2 miNorth Haverhill4.2 miWoodsville2.5 miWells River1.7 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Newbury12%0.228421%B
Wells River— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Topsham12%0.31,6322%B
Bradford15%0.418345%A−
Ryegate10%0.11,23316%B

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

Questions about parks and trails in Newbury

How much of Newbury is conserved land?

12% 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 Newbury’s trails?

Pine Mountain Wildlife Management Area doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Newbury?

1.7 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.7 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Newbury?

66,170 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Newbury or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1,271 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Newbury have?

Ahead of 65% 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 Newbury 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 →