Mill Race
Park
17 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Antony-22 · CC BY-SA 4.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Parsons
7% of Parsons’ land is conserved: 49 acres
94% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 49 acres are parks and preserves, 33 per 1,000 residents. 0.2 miles of mapped trail cross Parsons, 0.2 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 74% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
7%
49 acres · of 1.1 sq mi of land
Trails
0.2 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
49 ac
33 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
94%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.6 mi
0.1 mi lanes · 1.4 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Parsons?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Parsons have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Parsons is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Parsons’ overall grade.
Conserved land7% of the land · typical WV town 2% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · WV 0.3 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land33 acres of park per 1,000 residents (49 acres) · WV 10 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home94% of residents within a half mile of a park · WV 71% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 74%
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Few West Virginia towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Parsons’ 7% is ahead of 82% of West Virginia towns, while its trails per square mile lead 30% of them.
Water is 6% of Parsons’ area (0 of 1 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 6%.
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.
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.
Monongahela National Forest
Managed by United States Forest Service
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Blackwater Wildlife Management Area
Nature preserve
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
49 conserved acres
7% of Parsons’ land. Water is left out: Parsons has 1.1 square miles of land and 0.1 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Parsons’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city43 ac
U.S. Forest Service6 ac
Not recorded43 ac
Local Park · 83 acNational Forest · 6 acLocal Recreation Area · 4 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corricks Ford Battlefield Park Local Park | Town or city | 50 | Open |
| Mill Race Park Local Park | Not recorded | 30 | Open |
| Monongahela National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 6 | Open |
| River City Park Local Park | Not recorded | 6 | Open |
| Good Vibes Skate Haven Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Parsons Skatepark Local Park | Not recorded | 1 | Open |
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
1.6 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.1 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
1.4 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
1Baseball
1Skate park
1Tennis
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Parsons: April and August
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) | 9.7 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 14.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.4 |
| High (°F) | 40 | 43 | 52 | 64 | 73 | 79 | 83 | 82 | 76 | 65 | 53 | 43 |
| Rain (in) | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 4.3 |
November is the driest month (3.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 5.8 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Parsons →
Questions about parks and trails in Parsons
How much of Parsons is conserved land?
7% of its land, against a typical 2% for a West Virginia town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Parsons’ trails?
Mill Race and Monongahela National Forest don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Parsons?
1.6 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.1 of painted or protected lanes and 1.4 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Parsons?
17,864 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Parsons or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 49 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Parsons have?
Ahead of 74% 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 Parsons 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 →