1
Buffumville Lake Park
Managed by United States Army Corps of Engineers
446 acres6.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Charlton
Charlton, MA parks, trails & bike paths
About 10% of Charlton is conserved land, roughly 2,843 acres. There are about 35 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Buffumville Lake Park (6.9 mi), Capen Hill Nature Sanctuary (3.7 mi), and Bennett WMA (2.1 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Charlton, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Charlton outdoors
Conserved land
10%
2,843 of 27,854 acres
Trails
35 mi
0.8 mi per sq mi · 11 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
30
212 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
Capen Hill Nature Sanctuary
Managed by Capen Hill Nature Sanctuary
83 acres3.7 mi of trail
Pasture TrailVery HazyFarr TrailEvergreen TrailOak Ridge Trail
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
3
Bennett Wildlife Management Area
Managed by Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife
264 acres2.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Fay Mountain Farm
Nature preserve
61 acres0.6 mi of trail
Midstate TrailMidstate Trail Access
Dog rules not recorded
5
Hammond Woods Open Space
Nature preserve
28 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
6
Little River
Nature preserve
5 acres0.3 mi of trail
Little River Trail
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
All 30 parks & preserves
- Mid-State Trail Conservation Area53 ac · 0.2 mi trail
- Potter Village Estates Open Space16 ac · 0.2 mi trail
- Willow Tree Farm Open Space6 ac · 0.2 mi trail
- Donald Powers Memorial Forest84 ac
- Cranberry Meadow58 ac
- Stafford Street Conservation Land40 ac
- Little River Wildlife Management Area39 ac
- Jennings Road Extension Open Space22 ac
- Solar Heights Estates Conservation Area19 ac
- Great Blue Heron Cove18 ac
- Blood Road Conservation Area14 ac
- Ponnakin Hill Deer Run Open Space8 ac
- Little River Estates Conservation Area8 ac · Directions
- Ponnakin Hill Pheasant Lane Open Space7 ac
- Preservation Estates Open Space6 ac
- Manor Ridge5 ac
- Stonegate Estates Open Space4 ac
- Ponnakin Hill Meadow Lane Open Space4 ac
- Lambs Pond Open Space3 ac
- Shield's Frog Pond3 ac · Directions
- Prindle Lake Park2 ac · Directions
- Militia Lot2 ac · Directions
- Fitzgerald Road Open Space1 ac
- Charlton Town Common1 ac · Directions
Who protects the land
2,843 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 992 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 4 of 81 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
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
- Beach volleyball13
- Tennis7
- Baseball7
- Soccer4
- Basketball4
- Pickleball2
- Softball2
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Charlton and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlton | 10.2% | 34.7 mi | 30 |
| Southbridge Town | 13.5% | 21.3 mi | 10 |
| Oxford | 4.3% | 30.1 mi | 10 |
| Sturbridge | 28.2% | 82.3 mi | 21 |
| East Brookfield | 24.3% | 6.8 mi | 6 |
| Spencer | 27.7% | 46.8 mi | 22 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Charlton'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 25.2-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.