In ten months, Forsyth Park has had its 1858 Fountain restored, gained a new garden under the live oaks, and reopened its tennis courts on fresh surfacing with evening lights. Each project had its own sponsor and its own money. The City's preservation staff restored the Fountain with specialist craftsmen. A volunteer garden club designed the Shade Garden and paid for it with a national grant and community fundraising. The courts came out of the City's capital budget.
Three projects with three funding models in less than a year shows how the park actually gets improved: one project at a time, each with its own sponsor and its own source of money. The conservancy framework now in place with the City is meant to change that. Going project by project shows why.
The Fountain Came Back First, Through the City's Preservation Staff
The City of Savannah says the fountain, installed in 1858, was renovated for the first time in more than 30 years, and the work was finished in December 2025. The project was led by the Historic Parks and Squares Division of the City's Park & Tree Department, working with Robinson Iron Works, Landmark Preservation, Pineapple Fountain, Pool and Spa, and Integrated Power Connections. Together they restored the cast-iron details, structural parts, mechanical systems and the infrastructure around the fountain.
Preservation groups noticed. The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation gave the restoration its Chairman's Award, part of a statewide round that recognized 28 projects and individuals. Historic Savannah Foundation gave the Park and Tree Commission its Stewardship Award. In the City's announcement of the awards, Brent Boyd, division director for Historic Parks and Squares, described what the recognition meant:
"This award is important because it recognizes the importance of preservation, especially for something as beloved as our historic Forsyth Park Fountain."
In the same release, Historic Savannah Foundation president and CEO Collier Neely said the foundation hoped "to see this type of excellence and care in the future preservation projects across Savannah's parks and squares." His sentence looks ahead. The Fountain was a single landmark restored by a single City division. It wasn't set up to fund the park's next need.
A Garden Club Planted the Newest Corner
On February 18, 2026, the City of Savannah and the Trustees' Garden Club held a ribbon-cutting for the new Forsyth Park Shade Garden. WTOC reported that the ceremony would be held next to the Fragrant Garden at Bull Street and East Park Avenue. The station described a walking path, shaded benches and plants suited to shade, all set beneath the park's historic live oak canopy.
The funding is the interesting part. WSAV reported that the Trustees secured a $10,000 grant and raised more money on top of it. The City contributed irrigation, soil preparation, lighting and plants. The Trustees' Garden Club names the Garden Club of America as the grantor and says club members designed the garden together with the Park and Tree Department.
The club has been doing this kind of work for a long time. It restored the Fragrant Garden in 2012, and since then members have volunteered each month alongside City staff to tend it. It also landscaped the playground areas and paid for brick walkways and benches near the two dummy forts. The Shade Garden fits the same model the club has used for years: volunteers do the design work, a grant and local donations cover much of the cost, and the City supplies infrastructure and materials. It works well, but it depends on a dedicated club deciding to take on a project.
The Courts Came Out of the Capital Budget
The City of Savannah announced that its renovation of the Forsyth Park tennis courts was finished on September 25, 2026. The work was part of the City's Recreation Reimagined initiative and was paid for through the FY2026 Capital Improvement Program. Crews replaced the worn courts, fencing and site amenities, then laid new asphalt and sport-specific surfacing.
The City ran a competitive bid and awarded the contract to Edwards Construction Group, a certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, for no more than $363,081. Construction started in June. The City scheduled the work for summer on purpose so it would interrupt regular programming and play as little as possible.
Today's date is October 12, so the courts have been open for a little over two weeks. Hours are dawn to 9 p.m., seven days a week, and the lights run from 6 to 9 p.m. Reservations go through the Bacon Park Tennis Center at 912-351-3850 or through savannahga.gov. Night lights matter more as fall goes on. Once daylight saving time ends, the lit 6-to-9 p.m. window covers most of the time people have for a game after work.
A Saturday Morning Through All Three
You can see all three projects in one Saturday morning, using the farmers market as a starting point. The Forsyth Farmers' Market runs every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., all year, at the south end of the park at Bull Street and Park Avenue. That puts the market close to where WTOC placed the Shade Garden ceremony, so it makes sense to start there.
- The market, from 9 a.m. Shop first while the south end is still cool.
- The Shade Garden, next to the Fragrant Garden. It has benches under the oak canopy, the newest seating in the park.
- The resurfaced tennis courts. They're bookable through Bacon Park Tennis Center if you'd rather plan a game for later in the day.
- The Fountain. Finish here and look at the cast iron that Robinson Iron Works and its partners restored over the winter.
Along the way you'll pass work by a garden club, a City preservation division and a capital-budget contractor, and each was paid for through a separate arrangement.
The Next Project Depends on a Conservancy
A single, ongoing source of private funding is what the conservancy is meant to provide. In 2015 the Trustees' Garden Club, working with the City, began a stewardship effort with three parts: a comprehensive master plan, a nomination to the National Park Service for National Historic Landmark recognition, and a park conservancy to raise private money for the projects the master plan identified. According to the club, the master plan came out of 11 months of community engagement and more than 4,500 completed surveys. Protecting the tree canopy, open green space and historic integrity were the top priorities.
The conservancy now exists on paper. The City's FAQ describes Friends of Forsyth Conservancy as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and philanthropic agent, and describes a memorandum of understanding that sets out how the conservancy and the City work together. The same FAQ says the City keeps ownership of the park and the final say on decisions. In June 2025, GPB reported that council was expected to approve a revised MOU describing a proposed 10-year partnership and a 22-member conservancy board that would include City and neighborhood representatives. That report covered a planned vote, and the board's final makeup should be checked against later City records.
The landmark question is still open as well. Friends of Forsyth's project page calls a separate National Historic Landmark nomination for the park a goal "under consideration" and notes that the research and nomination process can take several years. In February 2024, the Savannah Morning News reported that the City was instead working on an update to Savannah's existing National Historic Landmark District nomination that would bring in all of Forsyth Park. National Park Service feedback suggested the park's cultural landscape report could support including it. The paper gave 2026 as the target for finishing that update. Nothing published so far confirms that the update was submitted this year.
So the past year delivered three finished projects, each funded and built its own way. The structure that could fund the next project from the master plan through one ongoing source exists on paper, but it hasn't yet shown up in completed work in the park.
At The Agency Savannah, we follow changes like these because they shape the blocks around Forsyth Park in ways a listing sheet can't show. If you own near the park and are curious how its recent restorations and the conservancy's next steps affect your home's value, request an instant home valuation or schedule a private consultation with our downtown team.
