1
Needham Town Forest
Managed by Town of Needham
189 acres9.7 mi of trail
Red PathBlue TrailGreen TrailOrange TrailYellow Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Needham
Needham, MA parks, trails & bike paths
About 23% of Needham is conserved land, roughly 1,871 acres. There are about 45 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Needham Town Forest (9.7 mi), Cutler Park (8.3 mi), and Ridge Hill Reservation (6.6 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Needham, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Needham outdoors
Conserved land
23%
1,871 of 8,093 acres
Trails
45 mi
3.6 mi per sq mi · 29 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
33
58 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
7.6 mi
5.7 mi lanes · 1.5 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
Cutler Park
Managed by Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
472 acres8.3 mi of trail
Blue Heron TrailHealthy Heart Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Ridge Hill Reservation
Managed by Town of Needham
421 acres6.6 mi of trail
Esker TrailBeard TrailNorth TrailField View TrailMuir Path Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Greendale Greenway
Nature preserve
67 acres1.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
5
Charles River Peninsula
Managed by Trustees of Reservations
31 acres1.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo Red Wing Bay Parking
6
Upper Charles River Reservation
Nature preserve
23 acres1.2 mi of trail
Blue Heron Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
7
Sudbury Aqueduct Trail
Managed by Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
21 acres1.2 mi of trail
Sudbury Aqueduct TrailSudbury PathSudbury Aqueduct Path
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
8
Rosemary Lake
Nature preserve
37 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 33 parks & preserves
- Needham Reservoir19 ac · 0.6 mi trail · Directions
- Hemlock Gorge Reservation9 ac · 0.5 mi trail · Directions
- Farley Pond Reservation26 ac · 0.4 mi trail
- Needham Conservation Land48 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- DeFazio Park32 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Guernsey Sanctuary14 ac · 0.2 mi trail
- Charles River Wildlife Management Area45 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Wellesley Water Land51 ac · Directions
- Sweet Preserve18 ac
- Memorial Park12 ac · Directions
- Walker-Gordon Field11 ac · Directions
- Cricket Field6 ac · Directions
- Chester F. Mills Field6 ac · Directions
- Rosemary Glen6 ac
- Claxton Field6 ac · Directions
- Village Falls Park3 ac · Directions
- Rebecca Perry Park3 ac
- Greene's Field2 ac · Directions
- Avery Field2 ac
- Dwight Field1 ac
- Riverside Park1 ac
- Red Wing Bay1 ac · Directions
- Hatfield Park1 ac
- Town Hall Common1 ac · Directions
- Vesta Park1 ac
Who protects the land
1,871 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 116 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 21 of 103 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes5.7 mi
- Off-road bike paths1.5 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.4 mi
- Yellow Triangle (bike route)6.8 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis22
- Baseball21
- Basketball9
- Soccer8
- Football2
- Lacrosse2
- Multi-sport1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Needham and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Needham'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.