1
Wharton Plantation
Nature preserve
678 acres6.6 mi of trail
Burnt Meadow Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Groton
Groton, MA parks, trails & bike paths
About 33% of Groton is conserved land, roughly 7,167 acres. There are about 153 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Wharton Plantation (6.6 mi), Rocky Hill Wildlife Sanctuary (5.7 mi), and J. Harry Rich State Forest (5 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Groton, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Groton outdoors
Conserved land
33%
7,167 of 21,489 acres
Trails
153 mi
4.5 mi per sq mi · 94 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
130
629 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
12.7 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 12.7 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
Rocky Hill Wildlife Sanctuary
Nature preserve
411 acres5.7 mi of trail
Heronry TrailChestnut Oak Loop TrailRocky Hill TrailOvenbird TrailVernal Pool Trail
No dogsMapped in OpenStreetMap
3
J. Harry Rich State Forest
Nature preserve
386 acres5 mi of trail
J. Harry Rich TrailOxbow LoopEagle LoopJohn Tinker TrailNashua Riverwalk
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Surrenden Farms
Nature preserve
179 acres3.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Shepley Hill
Nature preserve
72 acres2.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
6
Gamlin Crystal Spring Conservation Area
Nature preserve
125 acres2.5 mi of trail
Gamlin Esker TrailBoulders TrailIndian Rock Trail
Dog rules not recorded
7
Groton Woods Conservation Area
Nature preserve
120 acres2.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
8
Williams Barn and Sørhaug Woods
Nature preserve
96 acres2.4 mi of trail
Chestnut Hill Loop TrailBruce Clements TrailPriest Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 60 parks & preserves
- Squannacook River Wildlife Management Area159 ac · 2.3 mi trail · Directions
- Throne Hill121 ac · 2.2 mi trail
- Skinner Forest113 ac · 2 mi trail · Directions
- Academy Hill212 ac · 1.9 mi trail · Directions
- Taisey Conservation Restriction96 ac · 1.9 mi trail · Directions
- Skitapet Conservation Land58 ac · 1.8 mi trail · Directions
- Hayes Woods47 ac · 1.3 mi trail · Directions
- Phebe R Keyes Woods57 ac · 1.2 mi trail
- Peter E. Bertozzi Conservation Area38 ac · 1.2 mi trail · Directions
- Fritz and Helen Walker Conservation Area105 ac · 1.1 mi trail · Directions
- Kemp Woods74 ac · 1.1 mi trail · Directions
- Fitch-Woods30 ac · 1.1 mi trail
- Red Line14 ac · 1.1 mi trail · Directions
- Unkety Brook Wildlife Management Area186 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- West Throne Hill Conservation Land53 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Bates Land41 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Mclains Woods Conservation Area33 ac · 1 mi trail · Directions
- Flavell Crossing Conservation Area107 ac · 0.9 mi trail
- Baddacook Conservation Land41 ac · 0.9 mi trail
- Still Meadow31 ac · 0.9 mi trail
- Groton Hills Conservation Area31 ac · 0.9 mi trail
- Mason Back 10056 ac · 0.8 mi trail
- Nipmuc Meadow35 ac · 0.8 mi trail
- Harrison S. Ripley Forest69 ac · 0.7 mi trail
- Blackman Field and Woods48 ac · 0.7 mi trail · Directions
- Priest Family Conservation Area42 ac · 0.7 mi trail
- Cronin Conservation Area36 ac · 0.7 mi trail
- Sawtell Conservation Area31 ac · 0.7 mi trail · Directions
- Longley Estates II Conservation Area43 ac · 0.6 mi trail · Directions
- Lawrence Land42 ac · 0.6 mi trail
- Batten Woods31 ac · 0.6 mi trail
- Farmers And Mechanics Club20 ac · 0.6 mi trail · Directions
- Sargisson Beach17 ac · 0.6 mi trail
- Wiewel Conservation Area40 ac · 0.5 mi trail
- Wattles Pond Conservation Area26 ac · 0.5 mi trail · Directions
- Lawrence Woods26 ac · 0.5 mi trail
- Hawtree Conservation Area23 ac · 0.5 mi trail
- Duck Pond Conservation Area19 ac · 0.5 mi trail · Directions
- Sabine Memorial Woods12 ac · 0.5 mi trail
- David Norris Property52 ac · 0.4 mi trail
- Torrey Woods Conservation Area36 ac · 0.4 mi trail
- Hurd Property30 ac · 0.4 mi trail · Directions
- Deerhaven Conservation Restriction22 ac · 0.4 mi trail
- Johnston Conservation Area16 ac · 0.4 mi trail
- Northwoods Conservation Area15 ac · 0.4 mi trail
- Baddacook Woods14 ac · 0.4 mi trail
- Lawrence Park Conservation Area12 ac · 0.4 mi trail · Directions
- Longley Estates I Conservation Area21 ac · 0.3 mi trail
- Eliades Conservation Area14 ac · 0.3 mi trail
- Hemlock Grove12 ac · 0.3 mi trail · Directions
- Watson Way Conservation Area5 ac · 0.3 mi trail
- Gibbet Hill5 ac · 0.3 mi trail · Directions
Who protects the land
7,167 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 3,291 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 12 of 306 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 paths12.7 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis24
- Baseball22
- Soccer9
- Pickleball8
- Basketball3
- Field hockey2
- Football2
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Groton and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Groton'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 23.9-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.