Nicholas County Veterans Memorial Park
Park
51 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Summersville
7% of Summersville’s land is conserved: 211 acres
3.2 miles of mapped trail cross Summersville, 0.7 per square mile of land. 58 acres are parks and preserves, 17 per 1,000 residents. 51% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 67% of U.S. towns · #17 of 61 in West Virginia. What drives it
Conserved land
7%
211 acres · of 4.5 sq mi of land
Trails
3.2 mi
0.7 per sq mi of land
Park land
58 ac
17 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
51%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Summersville?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Summersville have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Summersville is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #17 of 61 in West Virginia. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Summersville’s overall grade.
Conserved land7% of the land · typical WV town 2% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.7 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · WV 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land17 acres of park per 1,000 residents (58 acres) · WV 10 · U.S. 13BParks close to home51% of residents within a half mile of a park · WV 71% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 67%
LessMore
West Virginia towns of 2,500+ (61)Ahead of 73%
Few West Virginia towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Summersville’s 7% is ahead of 85% of West Virginia towns, while its trails per square mile lead 73% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B 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
The longest trail network is Nicholas County Veterans Memorial Park, with 0.3 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Summersville Lake Wildlife Management Area
Nature preserve
80 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Summersville Park
Managed by Summersville Parks and Recreation
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
211 conserved acres
7% of Summersville’s land. Who manages Summersville’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Army Corps of Engineers147 ac
Joint80 ac
County62 ac
Town or city6 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)5 ac
Not recorded55 ac
Recreation Management Area · 147 acLocal Park · 109 acState Conservation Area · 80 acAgricultural Easement · 18 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 9 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summersville Recreation Area Recreation Management Area | Army Corps of Engineers | 147 | Open |
| Nicholas County Veterans Memorial Park Local Park | County | 97 | Open |
| Summersville Lake Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Joint | 80 | Open |
| Summersville Park Local Park | Not recorded | 12 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Summersville
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Summersville
Memorial Park PlaygroundIn Nicholas County Veterans Memorial Park
DirectionsPlus 1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
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.
Courts & fields
5Baseball
3Tennis
1Skate park
1Basketball
1Equestrian
1Football
1Multi-sport
1Volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →7 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Nicholas County High SchoolBuilding · listed 1989
About itNicholas County CourthouseBuilding · listed 1991
About itBrock HotelBuilding · listed 1993
About itMartin Hamilton HouseBuilding · listed 1999
About itNicholas County BankBuilding · listed 2000
About itJames B. Carden HouseBuilding · listed 2001
About itDr. Flavius Brown HouseBuilding · listed 2003
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Summersville: 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) | 9.8 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.1 | 14.2 | 14.8 | 14.6 | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.5 |
| High (°F) | 41 | 45 | 53 | 66 | 73 | 79 | 82 | 81 | 76 | 66 | 54 | 44 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.7 |
February is the driest month (3.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 5.7 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Summersville →
Questions about parks and trails in Summersville
Where can I hike in Summersville?
The longest trail networks: Nicholas County Veterans Memorial Park, 0.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Summersville 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 Summersville’s trails?
Nicholas County Veterans Memorial Park and Summersville Lake Wildlife Management Area don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Summersville?
13,325 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Summersville or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 211 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Summersville have?
Ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #17 of 61 in West Virginia. 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 Summersville 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 →