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Northfield Falls Covered BridgeNorthfield Falls Covered Bridge · Photo: Steven Bergeron Srbergeron · CC BY 3.0
A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Northfield

Northfield has 695 acres of parks, 117 for every 1,000 residents

The biggest trail networks: Norwich University Land (14.3 mi), Northfield Municipal Forest (5.5 mi). 23 miles of mapped trail cross Northfield, 0.5 per square mile of land. 5% of Northfield’s land is conserved, about 1,412 acres.

Ahead of 77% of U.S. towns · #37 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it

Conserved land
5%
1,412 acres · of 44.6 sq mi of land
Trails
23 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
695 ac
117 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
68%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
2,382 ft
Paine Mountain
Lakes & rivers
1

What kind of outdoors town is Northfield?

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

Room to roam117 acres of park per 1,000 residents; the typical U.S. town has 13.History along the way9 places on the National Register.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Northfield have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Northfield is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns, #37 of 71 in Vermont. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; park acres per resident rank highest, the share of residents near a park lowest.

A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Northfield’s overall grade.
Conserved land5% of the land · typical VT town 14% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (23 mi) · VT 0.6 · U.S. 0.4BPark land117 acres of park per 1,000 residents (695 acres) · VT 97 · U.S. 13AParks close to home68% of residents within a half mile of a park · VT 38% · U.S. 72%B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 77%
LessMore
Vermont towns of 2,500+ (71)Ahead of 49%

Vermont towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 14%; the U.S., 4%), so Northfield’s 5% is ahead of 11% of Vermont towns, while its trails per square mile lead 46% 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.

1234
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Pick a walk

The longest trail network is Norwich University Land, with 14.3 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Norwich University Land

Nature preserve
851 acres14.3 mi of trail
Unmaintained Hiking TrailRidgeline TrailYellow TrailPony Express+1
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Northfield Municipal Forest

Nature preserve
403 acres5.5 mi of trail
Paine Mountain TrailClark RouteTown TrailSummit Loop+1
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Northfield Falls Park

Managed by Northfield Park Department
7 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗

Upper Parade Ground

Park
2 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it

1,412 conserved acres

5% of Northfield’s land. Who manages Northfield’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Land trusts & nonprofits1,135 ac
Town or city15 ac
Not recorded803 ac
Local Resource Management Area · 756 acConservation Easement · 593 acAgricultural Easement · 542 acLocal Other or Unknown · 47 acLocal Park · 15 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 593 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 18 of 38 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Northfield Village Forest
Local Resource Management Area
Not recorded436Unknown
Montpelier City Forest
Local Resource Management Area
Not recorded180Unknown
Northfield School Forest
Local Resource Management Area
Not recorded140Unknown
Town of Northfield
Local Other or Unknown
Not recorded47Unknown
Northfield Memorial Park
Local Park
Town or city9Open
Garvey Hill Park
Local Park
Town or city4Open
Doyon Park
Local Park
Town or city3Open
Things to do

7 places to go in Northfield

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

Peaks in Northfield
Paine Mountain2,382 ft elevation
Directions
Shaw Mountain1,857 ft elevation
Directions
Turkey Hill1,821 ft elevation
Directions
Trails & water

18 named trails and 1 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Open to bikes · 0.7 miUnpaved · 13.9 mi
Paine Mountain Trail3.1 mi
Unmaintained Hiking Trail2.3 mi
Yellow Trail1.6 mi
Ridgeline Trail1.5 mi
Clark Route1.5 mi
Pony Express0.8 mi
Orange Trail0.8 mi
Lybrand Route0.7 mi
Red Trail0.6 mi
Pot Raspberry0.5 mi
8 more trails
Hawk Watch
0.5 mi
Blood Root
0.4 mi
Town Trail
0.4 mi
Summit Loop
0.4 mi
Southbound
0.4 mi
Pony Express Connector
0.3 mi
Ridgeline Connector Trail
0.1 mi
Pony Express Spur
0.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Dog River
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.

Courts & fields
5Soccer
4Baseball
2Beach volleyball
1Basketball
1Football
1Lacrosse

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

History along the way

9 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 →
Slaughterhouse Covered BridgeStructure · listed 1974
About it
Northfield Falls Covered BridgeStructure · listed 1974
About it
Upper Cox Brook Covered BridgeStructure · listed 1974
About it
Lower Cox Brook Covered BridgeStructure · listed 1974
About it
Stony Brook Covered BridgeStructure · listed 1974
About it
Central Vermont Railway DepotBuilding · listed 1975
About it
Old Red MillBuilding · listed 1977
About it
Mayo BuildingBuilding · listed 1983
About it
Northfield Graded SchoolBuilding · listed 2024
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Northfield: 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.210.411.813.414.715.515.214.012.410.99.58.9
High (°F)273039536674797770564433
Rain (in)3.02.63.03.53.84.44.63.93.54.43.33.6

February is the driest month (2.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 4.6 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Northfield →

Next door

Northfield and its neighbors

Northfield has the most mapped trails of the 5 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Northfield23 miWaitsfield20 miBerlin15 miWilliamstown14 miMoretown9.7 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Northfield5%0.511768%A−
Waitsfield16%0.81318%B
Williamstown10%0.423536%B+
Berlin13%0.437430%B+
Moretown11%0.21036%B−

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

Questions about parks and trails in Northfield

Where can I hike in Northfield?

The longest trail networks: Norwich University Land, 14.3 miles; Northfield Municipal Forest, 5.5 miles; Upper Parade Ground, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Northfield is conserved land?

5% 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 Northfield’s trails?

Norwich University Land and Northfield Municipal Forest don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Northfield?

46,191 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Northfield or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 712 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Northfield have?

Ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #37 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 Northfield 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 →