Natural Areas - Middle Region

Barnett's Woods is a 40-acre natural area in Montgomery County located approximately 16 miles west of Clarksville on the Western Highland Rim.

Beaman Park is a 1,678 acre natural area in northwestern Davidson County approximately 15 miles from downtown Nashville near Joelton. The topography consists of ridges and hollows supporting forest vegetation that is characteristic of the Western Highland Rim.

Big Bone Cave is a 400-acre natural area located in Van Buren County on the Cumberland Plateau escarpment. It is named for the discovery of the bones of a giant ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) in 1811.

Burgess Falls is a 200-acre natural area in Putnam and White Counties and is located approximately thirteen miles southwest of Cookeville. Burgess Falls lies on the rugged dissected eastern edge of the Eastern Highland Rim.

Cedars of Lebanon State Forest Natural Area is a 1,043-acre natural area in Wilson County and is part of the 9,420-acre Cedars of Lebanon State Forest. The land was first acquired under the Federal Resettlement Administration during the depression in 1935 and was one of the first natural areas designated in 1974.

The Chimneys is a 33-acre natural area located in Marion County. It is located in what is commonly referred to as the Pocket Wilderness where Pocket Creek cuts through Cumberland Plateau sandstone forming Pocket Gorge.

Couchville Cedar Glade is a 128-acre natural area in Davidson and Wilson Counties and is contiguous with the east boundary of Long Hunter State Park. Couchville supports one of the largest known and best quality populations of the Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis).

The Duck River Complex is a 2,135-acre natural area complex in Maury County that consists of six natural areas within the 12,800-acre Yanahli Wildlife Management Area (WMA).

Dunbar Cave is a 115-acre natural area in Montgomery County. Its significant feature is a well-explored scenic and historic cave which above ground is surrounded by an upland hardwood forest.

The Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade is a 185-acre natural area in Rutherford County. The natural area is significant because it protects a globally rare cedar glade and is a recovery site for the Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis).

Fate Sanders Barrens is a 230-acre natural area in Rutherford County, located on Percy Priest Lake. The natural area is significant because it supports a large open pristine barrens community comprised of perennial grasses and herbaceous plants.

Flat Rock Cedar Glade and Barrens is an 846-acre natural are in Rutherford County. Flat Rock supports a mosaic of forest types, oak barrens, open grassland barrens, and cedar glades, including federal and state listed plant species and glade endemic species.

Gattinger's Cedar Glade and Barrens is a 57-acre natural area in Wilson and Rutherford Counties. It supports one of the largest and best-known populations of Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis).

Hill Forest is a 225-acre natural area located in Davidson County approximately ten miles west of downtown Nashville. It became the 81st designated state natural area in 2010 because of its exemplary quality forest communities.

Hubbard's Cave is a 50-acre natural area located in Warren County. It is ecologically significant because the cave serves as a hibernaculum for two federally endangered bat species, the gray bat (Myotis grisescens) and the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis).

The John and Hester Lane Cedar Glades is a 45 acre natural area located in Wilson County within the Central Basin Physiographic Province. The natural area is near the Vine community and is located just west of Highway 231 approximately half way between the cities of Murfreesboro and Lebanon.

Lost Creek State Natural Area is a diverse area situated on the western flank of the Cumberland Plateau.  Its scenic highlight is the beautiful Lost Creek Falls in White County. 

Manus Road is a 22-acre natural area located in Rutherford County. It has a population of rare and endemic plants that include the federally endangered Pyne's ground plum (Astragalus bibullatus), evolvulus (Evolvulus nuttallianus) and Tennessee milk-vetch (Astragalus tennesseensis).

May Prairie is a 346-acre natural area in Coffee County. The most impressive feature at May Prairie is the open grassland community that protrudes into the surrounding oak forest where the oak barrens begin.

Montgomery Bell is a 600-acre natural area in Dickson County and is comprised of two tracts of high quality oak-hickory forest nested within the 5,000-acre Montgomery Bell State Park. These tracts are noted to provide the best known example of representative oak-hickory forest ecosystems on the Western Highland Rim in Tennessee.

Morrison Meadows is a 20-acre natural area in Warren County on Sunny Acres Road off Hwy 55. This site on the Eastern Highland Rim is an excellent example of a once extensive wetland prairie/barrens complex.

Mount View Glade is a nine-acre natural area in suburban Nashville, Davidson County. It was acquired and then designated to protect one of five populations of the Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis).

Overbridge is a 70-acre natural area located in Rutherford County. It supports a globally rare Middle Tennessee cedar glade ecosystem that provides habitat for six state listed plant species, as well as, leafy prairie clover (Dalea foliosa) and Pyne's ground plum (Astragalus bibullatus), which are both federally endangered plant species.

Radnor Lake is a 1,200-acre natural area located in Davidson County in the Overton Hills, approximately eight miles south of downtown Nashville. This natural area is an outlier of the Western Highland Rim and has some of the highest ridges in the Central Basin.

Sequatchie Cave is a 10-acre natural area located in Marion County. It is biologically significant area located where Owen Spring Branch flows from the mouth of the cave at Sequatchie Cave Park in Marion County.

Short Springs is a 420-acre natural area located in Coffee County approximately three and a half miles northeast of Tullahoma. The natural area provides an excellent contrast between Highland Rim and Central Basin geology and vegetation.

Stillhouse Hollow Falls is a 90-acre state natural area in Maury County. The geology of this region creates scenic natural features such as seeps, flat shale-bottom streams, and waterfalls, both small and large, which help shape the region’s dissected topography.

The Stones River Cedar Glade and Barrens is a 185-acre natural area within Stones River National Battlefield in Rutherford County. The majority of this natural area is an open expanse of limestone outcropping and very shallow soils.

Sunnybell Cedar Glade is a 36-acre natural area in Rutherford County. The natural area is named for the sunnybells (Schoenolirion croceum) that are prominent in wet calcareous limestone washes of cedar glades.

Taylor Hollow is a 173-acre natural area located in Sumner County. It is a botanically rich and biologically diverse area that is one of only a very few areas remaining like this in Middle Tennessee that has been minimally impacted by human activity.

Vesta Cedar Glade is a 150-acre natural area in Wilson County. It is in the Central Basin of Middle Tennessee and located in the southwest corner of Cedars of Lebanon State Forest. Vesta is comprised of cedar glades, barrens and cedar-hardwood forest communities.

Vine Cedar Glade is a 35-acre natural area in Wilson County. It is a harsh glade environment where limestone outcropping is prevalent and is significant because it supports a large population of Tennessee purple coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis).

Virgin Falls is 1,157-acre natural area located in White County. It is named for Virgin Falls, which is formed by an underground stream that emerges from a cave, then drops over a 110-foot high cliff before disappearing into another cave at the bottom of the sink.

The Walls of Jericho is a 750-acre natural area in Franklin County. The southern boundary of the natural area follows the Alabama Tennessee state line. The “Walls” is an impressive geological feature that forms a large bowl shaped amphitheater.

Walterhill Floodplain is a 34-acre natural area located in Rutherford County. It is uniquely different from most natural areas in that it is primarily comprised of an agricultural field. Its main function is to protect, maintain, and restore a healthy population of the Stones River bladderpod (Lesquerella stonensis).

Washmorgan Hollow is a 73-acre natural area in Jackson County. This sheltered ravine on the Eastern Highland Rim has a rich and diverse flora uncommon in many other areas in the region. It provides excellent habitat for plants and animals alike.

Wilson School Road Forest and Cedar Glades is a 58-acre natural area in Marshall County. This natural area consists of limestone cedar glades with a wet-weather conveyance. The glades are surrounded by dry eastern red cedar-blue ash woodlands.

Window Cliffs is a 275-acre state natural area designated in 2014.  It is located in southern Putnam County approximately 18 miles south of Cookeville near Burgess Falls State Natural Area.