1
Zearing Park
Park
75 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Princeton
Princeton, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 2.3% of Princeton is conserved land, roughly 120 acres. There are about 2.2 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Zearing Park (0.5 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Princeton, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Princeton outdoors
Conserved land
2.3%
120 of 5,237 acres
Trails
2.2 mi
0.3 mi per sq mi
Parks & preserves
6
15 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.0 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.0 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
City County Park
Park
62 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
3
Alexander Park
Park
28 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
West Side Ball Park
Park
4 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Public pools in Princeton
Alexander PoolIn Alexander Park
Who protects the land
120 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis14
- Soccer8
- Baseball6
- Pickleball3
- Beach volleyball2
- Volleyball1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Princeton
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Local Park 105 acLocal Recreation Area 14 acUnknown 1 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| City County ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 55 | Open |
| Zearing ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 32 | Open |
| Alexander ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 16 | Open |
| Bureau County FairgroundsLocal Recreation Area | County | 11 | Open |
| West Side Ball ParkLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| Soldiers & Sailors ParkLocal Park | County | 1 | Open |
| Darius Miller ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Unnamed PropertyUnknown | Town or city | 1 | Open |
History
Historic places to visit
Owen Lovejoy HomesteadHours: May-Sep: Fr-Su 13:00-16:00 · Building · 1838
Elm Lawn CemeteryCemetery
Oakland CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Princeton and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Princeton's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.