Latest News
Golf clubhouse renovations begin
Here’s an update from the OP9 committee on the current status of the golf course and clubhouse renovations. The golf course is on track to reopen to the public before the Overton Park Junior Open tournament begins on July 11. Now that the weather is warmer, the grass has started growing again, and crews are […]
Your story…on the air at WYXR!
Overton Park Conservancy is teaming up with our community radio station WYXR on our Overton Park Stories program! Ear to the Ground host Nancy Morrow is putting together an episode focused on how Overton Park has impacted the lives of Memphians, and we want to hear YOUR story. Nancy will be capturing audio recordings on Thursday, […]
Comcast Cares Day this Saturday!
The big mulch pile is back! Help us refresh the safety surfacing at Rainbow Lake Playground as part of the annual Comcast Cares Day volunteer event. Wear shoes you don’t mind getting a little dirty, and we’ll provide breakfast, rakes, and wheelbarrows! This year, if 25 non-profit organization volunteers complete the Comcast Cares Day project, […]
Free wellness classes this summer
We are pleased to announce that FREE wellness classes in the formal gardens begin May 3 and continue into the fall! Thanks to the generosity of our instructors, Overton Park Conservancy is able to offer these classes free of charge. On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:15 – 8:00 AM, join certified instructor Marjean Liggett for tai […]
NatureZen: Rose-Colored Glasses
NatureZen: Rose-Colored Glasses Words and photos by Melissa McMasters One of the great joys of spending years getting to know the same patch of land is developing a familiarity with the way it changes with the seasons. I know that I’ll usually hear the first “fizz” calls in the Old Forest from the blue-gray gnatcatcher near […]
City Nature Challenge: April 29 – May 2
For the first time, the Memphis metro area will be participating in the global City Nature Challenge event! Started in 2016 as a competition between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the City Nature Challenge (CNC) has grown into an international event, motivating people around the world to find and document wildlife in and around their […]
Stories: Kathy Barnes-Lou
Kathy was kind enough to share this heart-warming memory from a trip to the Old Forest with us. Share your story at www.overtonpark.org/stories! Good People in the Old Forest of Overton Park While taking in the warm winter day a year or so ago, my mother and I made our way through the Old Forest […]
A Toast to Charlie Newman
Overton Park Conservancy’s Executive Director, Tina Sullivan, gave a toast to Charlie Newman at our April 2 Center of a Century celebration. Charlie was the attorney who brought Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe to the Supreme Court in 1971 and won an improbable victory that saved the park from being bulldozed by Interstate […]
New parking plan restores Greensward, forest
Today Overton Park Conservancy, along with our partners at Memphis Zoo and the City of Memphis, is proud to announce a permanent solution to the Zoo’s parking needs that not only preserves the entire Overton Park Greensward, but restores 17 acres of mostly forested parkland that has been inaccessible for decades. The new plan, which […]
NatureZen: Heavenly Hummingbirds
Words and photos by Melissa McMasters In medieval times, the word “gorget” (from gorge, the French word for “throat”), referred to a cloth wrapped around a woman’s neck and head. Over the years, it evolved to describe the metallic collars worn by knights and soldiers to protect their throats. Today, it’s used primarily to refer to […]