Overton Park

Overton Park is the most Memphis 342 acres there are: an actual old-growth forest in the middle of Midtown, the band shell where rock and roll arguably played its first show, a zoo, an art museum (for a few more months), and a golf course with a 1926 Tudor clubhouse. It's free, open dawn to dusk, and changing enough in 2026 that the old guides need replacing.

Here's the whole park, verified — and where it connects: the Zoo's free Tennessee Tuesdays and Rainbow Lake are in our kids guide, the Brooks' free Saturdays in free things to do, and Candlelight concerts at the Brooks in that guide. How Overton stacks up against the rest of the city's green space: the Memphis parks guide.

What's in the park

Every piece, current as of July 2026.

• The Old Forest State Natural Area

  126 acres of genuinely old-growth forest — state-protected since 2011 — with the 1.4-mile Limestone Loop, ~4 miles of dirt trails, and a 35-marker interpretive loop you can download. The conservancy runs free hour-long guided nature walks; dates post on their calendar.

• The Overton Park Shell

  Built by the WPA in 1936 for $11,935 — and on July 30, 1954, Elvis Presley played his first paid concert here, opening for Slim Whitman, in what historians call the first rock and roll show. The free Orion Concert Series returns September 4–October 11, shows around 7pm, blankets and coolers welcome — with a 90th-birthday Shell-ebration September 10–13.

• Rainbow Lake Playground

  Climbing structures, the tunnel through the Big Green Mound, swings, and a build-it-yourself area — free, dawn to dusk, with restrooms at the pavilion and free parking beside it.

• Overton Park 9

  The renovated 9-hole municipal course, walkable and beginner-friendly, with the 1926 Abe Goodman clubhouse (daily 7am–7:30pm). Tee times via memphispubliclinks.com — greens fees aren't published online, so call (901) 725-9905.

• Overton Bark

  The 1.3-acre dog park with separate big-dog and small-dog runs, water fountains, and dawn-to-dusk hours. Everywhere else in the park is leash-required.

• The Memphis Zoo & the Brooks

  Both live inside the park: the Zoo (free Tennessee Tuesdays with a reservation; $10 parking) and the Brooks Museum — free Saturdays 10am–noon until it moves downtown as the Memphis Art Museum in December 2026. Catch the Overton Park era while it lasts.

• Veterans Plaza & the Bike Gate

  A two-acre plaza honoring 2,500+ local veterans — anchored by a 1926 Doughboy statue and the Memphis Belle monument — plus the arch at East Parkway built in 2014 entirely from donated bikes.

• The farmers market

  Thursdays 3–7pm, April through October, at the East Parkway pavilion — SNAP accepted with produce double-match. The full metro market list is in our farmers markets guide.

What's changing in 2026

Two big shifts. The Brooks Museum leaves for its new downtown riverfront home in December 2026 — after that, its Overton Park building's next chapter begins while the museum rebrands as the Memphis Art Museum. And the old Memphis College of Art building (Rust Hall) is becoming the Metal Museum's new home — the 'Metal Museum: International Metal Arts Institute' broke ground in 2024 and is projected to open late this year, nearly tripling the museum's old riverside footprint.

And a long saga near its end: the zoo-parking-on-the-Greensward fight was resolved by formal agreement in 2022 — new north-lot parking, 17 acres of forest transferred to conservancy care — with implementation still rolling through a federal grant process. The lawn is coming back to being just a lawn.

The honest answers