Overton Park

342 acres of old-growth urban forest saved from the interstate by a landmark Supreme Court case

Overton Park is one of the great urban parks in America — 342 acres of meadow, golf course, and genuinely old-growth forest in the middle of Midtown Memphis. The old-growth section, known as the Old Forest, is extraordinary: an intact hardwood forest of oak, hickory, and beech that has never been logged, right inside a major city. Walking the trails through it, particularly in autumn when the canopy turns, feels nothing like a typical city park.

The park contains the Memphis Zoo, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, the Memphis College of Art, a golf course, a shell for outdoor concerts, and miles of walking and cycling trails. It is the social centre of Midtown — on a weekend morning, the parking lots are full with people running, cycling, visiting the zoo, or simply walking in the forest. The park has no admission charge.

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A story
In 1966 the Tennessee Department of Transportation announced a plan to drive Interstate 40 through the middle of Overton Park, demolishing 26 acres of old-growth forest. A coalition of citizens sued to stop it. The case — Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe — reached the Supreme Court in 1971, which ruled in the citizens' favour. The decision established the principle that federal agencies must take environmental concerns seriously before authorising projects, a ruling that shaped environmental law for decades. The interstate runs to the north of the park, as it has always done.

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