The small municipal parks — playgrounds, ball fields, a lake beach — on the questions you ask before loading the car. Not the state parks — those are here.
These belong to the towns, not the county
Garrett County itself owns only four park sites, and most of what gets called "county recreation" is school grounds maintained by the Board of Education. The parks people actually use are run by eight small towns — Accident, Friendsville, Grantsville, Kitzmiller, Oakland, Deer Park, Mountain Lake Park and Loch Lynn Heights — each with its own budget, its own hours and nobody publishing any of it in one place.
Where this dataset stands
10
parks listed
0
restrooms confirmed
10
still unchecked
That's the honest state of it. Five of these are name-only records — towns the county names as having parks, where we don't yet know which parks or what's in them. They're listed so the gap is visible rather than hidden.
The largest municipal park in the county, built around a 140-acre reservoir dug in 1972 to supply Oakland and opened to recreation three years later. A sandy beach and swimming area, several playgrounds, ball fields, trails, and pavilions you can rent. It is the closest thing Garrett County has to a public lake beach that isn't a state park.
The smaller Accident park, at the western end of Wood Street. A large pavilion plus climbing cubes, a saucer swing, a seesaw, and a swing set that includes an accessible seat — which is worth knowing, because accessible play equipment is rare out here and almost never published.
The larger of Accident's two town parks, on the southern end of South Street. A full playground, a little league field, a quarter-mile walking loop, horseshoe pits and a tennis court — a genuine neighbourhood park rather than a scenic one.
A riverside park on the Youghiogheny with ball fields, a playground, pavilions, tennis and volleyball courts, and direct river access. Friendsville is the take-out town for the upper Yough, so the park doubles as the place paddlers regroup.
Playground
Picnic tables
Pavilion
Courts / fields
Fishing
River access here is on serious whitewater. The Youghiogheny through Friendsville is not a place to swim casually.
Thirteen hundred acres run by the University of Maryland, with a lake and beach open daily through the summer for swimming, fishing and canoeing. Not a town park and not a state park — a third category that most visitors never hear about.
Swimming
Beach
Fishing
This is a university 4-H facility rather than a public park. Confirm public access before planning around it.
Grantsville is listed by the county among the eight municipalities that maintain community parks, but we have not yet confirmed which parks, where they are, or what is in them. This record exists so the gap is visible rather than hidden.
Named by the county among the municipalities maintaining community parks. Kitzmiller sits on the north branch of the Potomac below Wolf Den Run. Park-level detail not yet confirmed.