ON A GOOD NOTE

TEXT AND PHOTOS COURTESY OF MELISSA MCMASTERS

OVERTON PARK CONSERVANCY

when Memphians were forced to upend their normal lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, they looked to the outdoors as a place of refuge and relative safety. The team at Overton Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that has managed Memphis’s central green space for nearly ten years, heard the refrain over and over: “The park has been my lifeline. I don’t know what I would have done without it.” All told, Overton Park welcomed more than 1 million visitors in 2020, and is on pace to double that in 2021.

Overton Park has long been the center of civic pride, a place where people can find nature and culture, recreation and rest, companionship and solace. People have long felt it was worth fighting for: 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court case that spared the park from being paved over by Interstate 40. Instead of another leg of the highway, Overton Park kept its most distinctive feature: a 126-acre old-growth forest. It’s the only such forest in an urban area in the entire southeastern United States, and it’s now a legally protected Tennessee State Natural Area, managed by the Conservancy in partnership with the state. It boasts over 350 plant species, more than 100 bird species, and eight miles of trails so the community can enjoy it all.

The Conservancy raises 85 percent of its budget every year from community donations. To learn more about the Conservancy’s work and how you can support it, visit overtonpark.org.