Nature
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The 342-acre Lea Woods was bought in 1901 as the first project of the Memphis Park Commission on the advice of Olmsted Brothers, noted landscape architects. By popular vote it was named for Judge John Overton, a city founder. Naturalistic landscaping was by George Kessler, landscape architect. Soon added were the zoo in 1905, the first city golf course in 1911, and Brooks Art Gallery in 1916. The park, with its unique 175 acres of climax oak-hickory urban forest, was preserved as a unit by the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in 1971. It was placed in the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior in 1979.
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Memphis, Tennessee · United States
