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Putney VT - Sacketts BrookPhoto: Putneypics · CC BY 2.0
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Putney

Putney has 30 miles of mapped trails, 1.1 for every square mile of land

The biggest trail networks: Forest for Learning (4.1 mi), Windmill Ridge Nature Reserve (3.4 mi), Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge (1.9 mi). 8% of Putney’s land is conserved, about 1,440 acres. 77 acres are parks and preserves, 29 per 1,000 residents.

Ahead of 68% of U.S. towns · #52 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it

Conserved land
8%
1,440 acres · of 26.7 sq mi of land
Trails
30 mi
1.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
77 ac
29 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
16%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
1,102 ft
Bear Hill
Lakes & rivers
3
1 boat launch

What kind of outdoors town is Putney?

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

A trail town1.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 83% of U.S. towns.History along the way5 places on the National Register.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Putney have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Putney is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns, #52 of 71 in Vermont. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Putney’s overall grade.
Conserved land8% of the land · typical VT town 14% · U.S. 4%B+Trails1.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (30 mi) · VT 0.6 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land29 acres of park per 1,000 residents (77 acres) · VT 97 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home16% 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 68%
LessMore
Vermont towns of 2,500+ (71)Ahead of 27%

Vermont towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 14%; the U.S., 4%), so Putney’s 8% is ahead of 27% of Vermont towns, while its trails per square mile lead 64% 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 Forest for Learning, with 4.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Forest for Learning

Nature preserve
167 acres4.1 mi of trail
Bare Hill TrailDouble BirchBobcat RunCliff Trail+1
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Windmill Ridge Nature Reserve

Nature preserve
384 acres3.4 mi of trail
Hannum TrailDine TrailRidgeline TrailHigh Road Trail+1
Dogs on leash
Directionsto Hannum Trailhead Parking

Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge

Managed by United States Fish and Wildlife Service
207 acres1.9 mi of trail
Beaver Pond LoopDine TrailHannum Trail
Dogs on leash
Directionsto the parking lot

Putney Town Forest

Nature preserve
34 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 6 parks & preserves
Forest for Learning167 acres · 4.1 mi of trail
Directions
Windmill Ridge Nature Reserve384 acres · 3.4 mi of trail
Directions
Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge207 acres · 1.9 mi of trail · United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Directions
Beatrice Aiken Preserve11 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
Directions
Putney Town Forest34 acres
Bare Hill Conservation Site28 acres
Who protects it

1,440 conserved acres

8% of Putney’s land. Who manages Putney’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Land trusts & nonprofits1,466 ac
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service410 ac
Not recorded326 ac
Conservation Easement · 953 acAgricultural Easement · 487 acNational Wildlife Refuge · 410 acLocal Resource Management Area · 207 acLocal Other or Unknown · 119 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 909 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 15 of 43 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Silvio O. Conte National Fish And Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service410Restricted
Putney Central School Forest
Local Resource Management Area
Not recorded171Unknown
Town of Putney
Local Other or Unknown
Not recorded83Unknown
Putney Town Forest
Local Resource Management Area
Not recorded35Unknown
Barre Hill Conservation Site
Local Other or Unknown
Not recorded27Unknown
Beatrice Aiken Wildlife Preserve
Local Other or Unknown
Not recorded9Unknown
Things to do

4 places to go in Putney

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

Boat launches in Putney
Putney Landing
Directions
Trails & water

18 named trails and 3 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Unpaved · 3.1 mi
Beaver Pond Loop1.5 mi
Dine Trail1.3 mi
Hannum Trail1.2 mi
Bare Hill Trail1.1 mi
Ridgeline Trail0.6 mi
Double Birch0.6 mi
Bobcat Run0.6 mi
High Road Trail0.5 mi
Hinton Tail0.5 mi
Cliff Trail0.4 mi
8 more trails
Owl Ridge
0.4 mi
Turner Trail
0.4 mi
Princess Pine
0.4 mi
Tripping Field Access Trail
0.2 mi
Frog Highway
0.2 mi
School Trail
0.1 mi
Middle Earth
0.1 mi
Overlook
0.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
The PuddlepondConnecticut RiverSacketts Brook
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
3Soccer
2Equestrian
2Baseball
1Multi-sport
1Basketball
1Field hockey
1Tennis

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

History along the way

5 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).

History →
East Putney Brook Stone Arch BridgeStructure · listed 1976
About it
Sacketts Brook Stone Arch BridgeStructure · listed 1976
About it
Putney Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1986
About it
Theophilus Crawford HouseBuilding · listed 1995
About it
Sabin-Wheat FarmBuilding · listed 2004
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Putney: 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.310.511.813.314.615.315.013.912.410.99.79.0
High (°F)323544577078838174614837
Rain (in)3.33.03.53.83.74.64.44.34.24.83.64.2

February is the driest month (3.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.8 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Putney →

Next door

Putney and its neighbors

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

Westmoreland53 miPutney30 miWestminster26 miDummerston12 miBrookline10 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Putney8%1.12916%B+
Brookline— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Dummerston18%0.450930%A−
Westminster13%0.69911%B+

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

Questions about parks and trails in Putney

Where can I hike in Putney?

The longest trail networks: Forest for Learning, 4.1 miles; Windmill Ridge Nature Reserve, 3.4 miles; Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, 1.9 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Putney is conserved land?

8% 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 Putney’s trails?

OpenStreetMap records dogs as welcome at Windmill Ridge Nature Reserve (on leash) and Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge (on leash). For the rest, check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Putney?

23,572 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Putney or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 77 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Putney have?

Ahead of 68% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #52 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 Putney 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 →