Field Rehabilitation

Project EverGreen, members of the Sports Field Management Association (STMA), the Chatham County Parks & Recreation Department and local businesses teamed up this past Monday at Mother Mathilda Beasley Park in Savannah, GA to give the park’s baseball field a $50,000 makeover. The project goal was to give the county a greener, healthy park using the professional skills and knowledge of sports field professionals from across the country. The historic park received the makeover in conjunction with the STMA’s annual conference. Project EverGreen works with under resourced communities to renovate, maintain, and make more accessible healthy playing fields, parks and public green spaces. The park, managed by Chatham County, is named after Mother Beasley, the first African American nun in the state of Georgia. She was born in New Orleans, LA on November 14, 1832 and founded the St. Francis Home for Colored Orphans which opened in 1887. Beasley educated slaves in her home in Savannah, before the Civil War, which was illegal at that time. The field’s playing surface receives heavy usage and needed a renovation to guarantee it would remain a safe, sustainable part of the Savannah community. The makeover included: Leveling and refurbishing of the existing baseball infield. Laying of new sod edges along the infield after removing weeds and excess grass. Removing buildup of infield mix from the front of the backstop, player benches, and infield. Grading the existing infield. Installing 25 tons of new infield mix. Top dressing the infield with 40 bags of infield ...