Published 7:00 am Friday, August 14, 2026 Davenport Field, one of Georgia’s oldest playing fields, is entering a new era with renovations that include new turf, lighting and a video board. For nearly 146 years, the historic field has been a fixture at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville. The Boston Braves traveled from Macon to play spring training games on the field. Baseball legend Ty Cobb played there in 1913. Now home to GMC athletics, Davenport Field has received several major upgrades. “Basically, the field has three upgrades,” said Rob Manchester, head football coach at GMC. “There is all-new lighting, a huge new video board and finally the turf.” The new turf includes fresh field markings and bright red end zones highlighting GMC. New goal posts and freshly paved entrances have also been added to the field. The renovations will allow the field to serve more of GMC’s athletic programs and community members, including youth programs. “Everybody that touches it — and it’s really K-12, the whole prep school and us at the junior college, it just has so many benefits,” Manchester said. “Our grounds crew has always done a great job with the natural turf out there. Now we have Junior Pro, third through fifth graders, playing out there.” The field will also provide GMC with another option for practices when rain makes other fields unusable. “When it rains and the fields are bad, we can go up there and practice,” Manchester said. “Both soccer programs can practice on it.…
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