1
Rachel Carson Estuarine Sanctuary
Nature preserve
1,565 acres1.8 mi of trail
Inner Loop Trail (Green)Outer Loop Trail (Blue)Bird Shoal Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Beaufort
Beaufort, NC parks, trails & bike paths
About 32% of Beaufort is conserved land, roughly 1,610 acres. There are about 3.2 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Rachel Carson Estuarine Sanctuary (1.8 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Beaufort, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Beaufort outdoors
Conserved land
32%
1,610 of 5,010 acres
Trails
3.2 mi
0.4 mi per sq mi · 2 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
5
343 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.1 mi
0.1 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
Old Beaufort Elementary School
Park
16 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Curtis Perry Park
Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Randolph Johnson Memorial Park
Park
2 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Playgrounds in Beaufort
Showing 1–10 of 16 playgrounds
Unnamed playground in Randolph Johnson Memorial Park
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Trails
Named trails
Unpaved 1.2 mi
- Inner Loop Trail (Green)0.9 mi
- Outer Loop Trail (Blue)0.6 mi
- Bird Shoal Trail0.1 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
1,610 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 5 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 8 of 11 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.1 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis2
- Baseball2
- Beach volleyball1
- Basketball1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Beaufort
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Conservation Easement 1,562 acState Other or Unknown 1,560 acLocal Other or Unknown 43 acLocal Recreation Area 2 acLocal Park 1 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rachel Carson Component of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research ReserveState Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1,559 | Open |
| Town of Beaufort Open SpaceLocal Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 34 | Access unknown |
| Carteret County Open Space - Town Creek Boat RampsLocal Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 4 | Access unknown |
| Town of Beaufort - Curtis Perry ParkLocal Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 3 | Access unknown |
| Tennis CourtsLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Carteret County Open SpaceLocal Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 2 | Access unknown |
| NC Department of Transportation Mitigation SiteState Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Access unknown |
| Memorial ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
History
Historic places to visit
Michael John SmithMonument
Ocean View CemeteryCemetery
Old Burying GroundCemetery
Nearby
Beaufort and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beaufort | 32.1% | 3.2 mi | 5 |
| Morehead City | 9% | 4.2 mi | 11 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Beaufort'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.