Cedars of Lebanon State Park
Encyclopedia
Cedars of Lebanon State Park is a state park in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It consists of 900 acres (364 ha) situated amidst the 9420 acres (3,812.1 ha) Cedars of Lebanon State Forest. The park and forest are approximately 10 miles (16.1 km) south of Lebanon, Tennessee
.
Cedars of Lebanon State Forest is known for its cedar glades, a unique type of ecosystem that has adapted to the thin (or nonexistent) soil layers that often occur in the eastern Central Basin
. These glades are typically flanked by thick stands of red cedar
, a type of juniper
tree that can survive in soil layers too thin to support most large wooded plants. The presence of the red cedar in the basin reminded the region's early Euro-American settlers of the Lebanese cedar forests
of Biblical fame.
, 15 miles (24.1 km) east of Nashville
and 20 miles (32.2 km) north of Murfreesboro
. U.S. Route 231
, which runs north-to-south, splits the state forest into eastern and western sections. The state park (i.e., the developed area) is located in the eastern section along Cedar Forest Road. The western section consists of an undeveloped state forest. 1043 acres (422.1 ha) of the western section has been classifed as a state natural area.
Like most karst areas, Cedars of Lebanon State Forest is drained in large part by underground streams. The water in the forest probably ends up in nearby streams, such as Hurricane Creek. These streams empty into the Stones River's
J. Percy Priest Lake impoundment, which is located just a few miles to the west.
Cedars of Lebanon State Forest is underlain by Ordovician period limestone, formed roughly 460 million years ago from calcareous
ooze deposited by a primordial sea that once covered Middle Tennessee. Weathering of this rock has led to the creation of karst
formations such as joints, underground streams, caves, and sinkhole
s, which are common throughout the park and forest. The forest is located in a flat section of the Central Basin characterized by thin soil layers where the limestone bedrock is often exposed.
Cedar glade communities have adapted the basin's harsh barrens, where the soil is too thin to support most plant types, especially large wooded plants. The glades are typically open areas resembling rock or gravel-strewn meadows. Most glades include small areas of bare rock where nothing grows, gravelly areas where only grasses grow, and patches of very thin soil that support shrubs and small red cedars. Cedar glades are typically surrounded by stands of red cedar known as cedar thickets. Beyond the cedar thickets, the soil is thick enough to support a hardwood forest consisting primarily of oak and hickory.
The cedar glades of Cedars of Lebanon State Forest are home to 350 plant species, 29 of which are endemic to the cedar glades. Flowering plant species living in the glades include the formerly endangered Tennessee Coneflower
(Echinacea tennesseensis), the Prickly Pear cactus
(Opuntia humifusa), Limestone flame flower (Talinum calcaricum), Gattinger's Prairie Clover (Dalea
gattingeri), Glade Phlox (Phlox
bifida), and Nashville Breadroot (Pediomelum
subacaulis). Nonflowering plants include reindeer moss and glade moss. Along with the red cedar, trees in the surrounding forest include white oak
and shagbark hickory
. Wildlife chiefly consists of rodents and birds.
, which were harvested by Phoenicia
n city-states and used in the construction of the Temple of Solomon. The first Wilson County courthouse and many other early structures in the county were constructed using red cedar logs.
For much of the 19th century, the barren glades were largely devoid of human habitation, with the exception of a few small farms. In an 1879 essay on the history of Wilson County, James Drake described the various soil types in the county, which included a "dark soil, peculiar to the cedar flats, the least desirable of any we have, and subject to drought, being usually near the rock." The town of Gladeville was established in 1852 just west of the modern state forest boundaries and grew into a sizeable hamlet until the outbreak of the American Civil War
.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the high demand for lumber led to the harvesting of most of the forests in the Central Basin. Red cedar in particular was popular for use in the making of furniture, fence rails, and pencils. In the cedar flats of Wilson County, small farmers were struggling with depletion of the already-thin soil layer caused by poor farming tactics. In 1935, as part of the New Deal
, the federal government initiated a plan to resettle farmers living in badly eroded lands to allow the devastated forests to recover. As part of the Lebanon Cedar Forest Project, the federal Resettlement Administration
helped move the farmers in the cedar flats to new locations, and the Works Project Administration constructed forestry and recreational facilities and planted thousands of red cedar seedlings. The work was supervised by the United States Forestry Service. "Lebanon Cedar Forest" officially opened in 1937, with local newspaper editor Dixon Merritt presiding over the opening ceremony. Although the land was managed by the Tennessee Department of Conservation, the federal government retained ownership until 1955.
Botanists began noting the ecological importance of the cedar glades as early as 1901, when German-born doctor Augustin Gattinger (1825–1903) mentioned the glades in his book The Flora of Tennessee and the Philosophy of Botany. Research conducted by Elsie Quarterman
of Vanderbilt University
led to the forest's designation as a national natural landmark in 1973. In 1995, Cedar Lodge and several other structures built by the WPA in the 1930s and 1940s were placed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Cedars of Lebanon State Park has 117 campsites, 11 picnic shelters, a swimming pool, 8 miles (12.9 km) of hiking trails, a group lodge, and a meeting hall. A small museum, the Merritt Nature Center, displays some of the forest's natural features. The park also maintains a disc golf
course.
The park's eight miles (13 km) of hiking trails range in size from 0.5 to 5 mi (0.80467 to 8 km). The 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) Cedar Glades Trail, which begins at the park visitor center, is a self-guided interpretive trail that crosses several cedar glade habitats characteristic of glades found in the eastern basin. The 2 miles (3.2 km) Cedar Forest Trail, which begins near the junction of Cedar Forest Road and WPA Road, loops through a mixed oak-hickory and red cedar forest and passes several sizeable sinkholes and blockfields. The 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) Dixon Merritt Trail begins behind the Merritt Nature Center and provides access to Jackson Cave. The 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) Limestone Sinks Trail is another self-guided trail that passes several large limestone sinks. The 5 miles (8 km) Hidden Springs Trail, which starts near the picnic area, loops through multiple terrain types characteristic of the state forest, including a large limestone sink and associated dry streambed, several substantial cedar glades, and a dense stand of mixed red cedar and oak-hickory forest.
Jackson Cave is one of 18 known caves located in the state forest and the immediate vicinity. The cave's entrance is 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 4 feet (1.2 m) high, and the cave corridor has an average width of 12 feet (3.7 m) and an average height of 6 feet (1.8 m). The cave extends approximately 1000 feet (304.8 m) from its entrance to a large pool of water.
Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon is a city in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the United States. The population was 20,235 at the 2000 census. It serves as the county seat of Wilson County. Lebanon is located in middle Tennessee, approximately 25 miles east of downtown Nashville. Local residents have also called it...
.
Cedars of Lebanon State Forest is known for its cedar glades, a unique type of ecosystem that has adapted to the thin (or nonexistent) soil layers that often occur in the eastern Central Basin
Nashville Basin
The Nashville Basin, also known as the Central Basin, is a term often used to describe the area surrounding Nashville, Tennessee. The Central Basin was caused by an uplifting known as the Nashville Dome. The Nashville Dome is evidenced by the underlying rock strata that all dip downwards away from...
. These glades are typically flanked by thick stands of red cedar
Juniperus virginiana
Juniperus virginiana is a species of juniper native to eastern North America, from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, east of the Great Plains...
, a type of juniper
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...
tree that can survive in soil layers too thin to support most large wooded plants. The presence of the red cedar in the basin reminded the region's early Euro-American settlers of the Lebanese cedar forests
Lebanon Cedar
Cedrus libani is a species of cedar native to the mountains of the Mediterranean region.There are two distinct types that are considered to be different subspecies or varieties. Lebanon cedar or Cedar of Lebanon Cedrus libani is a species of cedar native to the mountains of the Mediterranean...
of Biblical fame.
Geographical setting
Cedars of Lebanon State Park is situated in the eastern Central Basin approximately 15 miles (24.1 km) west of the eastern Highland RimHighland Rim
The Highland Rim is a geographic term for the area in Tennessee surrounding the Central Basin. Nashville is largely surrounded by higher terrain in all directions....
, 15 miles (24.1 km) east of Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and 20 miles (32.2 km) north of Murfreesboro
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Murfreesboro is a city in and the county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 108,755 according to the United States Census Bureau's 2010 U.S. Census, up from 68,816 residents certified during the 2000 census. The center of population of Tennessee is located in...
. U.S. Route 231
U.S. Route 231
U.S. Route 231 is a parallel route of U.S. Route 31. It currently runs for 912 miles from St. John, Indiana, at U.S. Route 41 to south of U.S. Route 98 in Downtown Panama City, Florida.One of its most notable landmarks is the William H...
, which runs north-to-south, splits the state forest into eastern and western sections. The state park (i.e., the developed area) is located in the eastern section along Cedar Forest Road. The western section consists of an undeveloped state forest. 1043 acres (422.1 ha) of the western section has been classifed as a state natural area.
Like most karst areas, Cedars of Lebanon State Forest is drained in large part by underground streams. The water in the forest probably ends up in nearby streams, such as Hurricane Creek. These streams empty into the Stones River's
Stones River
The Stones River is a major stream of the eastern portion of Tennessee's Nashville Basin region.-Geography and hydrography:The Stones River is composed of three major forks: the West, Middle, and East forks. The West Fork, long, rises in southernmost Rutherford County near the Bedford County...
J. Percy Priest Lake impoundment, which is located just a few miles to the west.
Natural information
Calcareous
Calcareous is an adjective meaning mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate, in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.-In zoology:...
ooze deposited by a primordial sea that once covered Middle Tennessee. Weathering of this rock has led to the creation of karst
KARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
formations such as joints, underground streams, caves, and sinkhole
Sinkhole
A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes for example in sandstone...
s, which are common throughout the park and forest. The forest is located in a flat section of the Central Basin characterized by thin soil layers where the limestone bedrock is often exposed.
Cedar glade communities have adapted the basin's harsh barrens, where the soil is too thin to support most plant types, especially large wooded plants. The glades are typically open areas resembling rock or gravel-strewn meadows. Most glades include small areas of bare rock where nothing grows, gravelly areas where only grasses grow, and patches of very thin soil that support shrubs and small red cedars. Cedar glades are typically surrounded by stands of red cedar known as cedar thickets. Beyond the cedar thickets, the soil is thick enough to support a hardwood forest consisting primarily of oak and hickory.
The cedar glades of Cedars of Lebanon State Forest are home to 350 plant species, 29 of which are endemic to the cedar glades. Flowering plant species living in the glades include the formerly endangered Tennessee Coneflower
Echinacea tennesseensis
Echinacea tennesseensis, also known as the Tennessee coneflower or Tennessee purple coneflower, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, endemic to the cedar glades of the central portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Description:...
(Echinacea tennesseensis), the Prickly Pear cactus
Eastern prickly pear
Opuntia humifusa, commonly known as the Eastern Prickly Pear or Indian Fig, is a native cactus found in most of eastern North America. It ranges from Montana eastward to southern Ontario and then on to Massachusetts, south to Florida and westward to New Mexico.The green stems of this low-growing...
(Opuntia humifusa), Limestone flame flower (Talinum calcaricum), Gattinger's Prairie Clover (Dalea
Dalea
Dalea is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as prairie clover or indigo bush. Its name honours English apothecary Samuel Dale .-Species:-Formerly placed here:...
gattingeri), Glade Phlox (Phlox
Phlox
Phlox is a genus of 67 species of perennial and annual plants found mostly in North America in diverse habitats from alpine tundra to open woodland and prairie. Some flower in spring, others in summer and autumn....
bifida), and Nashville Breadroot (Pediomelum
Pediomelum
Pediomelum is a genus of legumes known as Indian breadroots. These are glandular perennial plants with palmately-arranged leaves. They have a main erect stem with inflorescences of blue or purple flowers and produce hairy legume pods containing beanlike seeds...
subacaulis). Nonflowering plants include reindeer moss and glade moss. Along with the red cedar, trees in the surrounding forest include white oak
White oak
Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...
and shagbark hickory
Shagbark Hickory
Carya ovata, the Shagbark Hickory, is a common hickory in the eastern United States and southeast Canada. It is a large deciduous tree, growing up to 27 m tall, and will live up to 200 years. Mature Shagbarks are easy to recognize because, as their name implies, they have shaggy bark...
. Wildlife chiefly consists of rodents and birds.
History
The earliest Euro-American settlers arrived in Wilson County in the late 1790s. The city of Lebanon, established in 1802, was named after the abundance of red cedar in the area. The settlers believed (mistakenly) that the red cedar stands were similar to the cedar forests of ancient LebanonHistory of ancient Lebanon
The history of ancient Lebanon traces the course of events in what is now known as Lebanon from the beginning of history to the beginning of Arab rule.- Prehistoric Times :The earliest known settlements in Lebanon date back to earlier than 5000 BC...
, which were harvested by Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n city-states and used in the construction of the Temple of Solomon. The first Wilson County courthouse and many other early structures in the county were constructed using red cedar logs.
For much of the 19th century, the barren glades were largely devoid of human habitation, with the exception of a few small farms. In an 1879 essay on the history of Wilson County, James Drake described the various soil types in the county, which included a "dark soil, peculiar to the cedar flats, the least desirable of any we have, and subject to drought, being usually near the rock." The town of Gladeville was established in 1852 just west of the modern state forest boundaries and grew into a sizeable hamlet until the outbreak of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the high demand for lumber led to the harvesting of most of the forests in the Central Basin. Red cedar in particular was popular for use in the making of furniture, fence rails, and pencils. In the cedar flats of Wilson County, small farmers were struggling with depletion of the already-thin soil layer caused by poor farming tactics. In 1935, as part of the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
, the federal government initiated a plan to resettle farmers living in badly eroded lands to allow the devastated forests to recover. As part of the Lebanon Cedar Forest Project, the federal Resettlement Administration
Resettlement Administration
The Resettlement Administration was a U.S. federal agency that, between April 1935 and December 1936, relocated struggling urban and rural families to communities planned by the federal government....
helped move the farmers in the cedar flats to new locations, and the Works Project Administration constructed forestry and recreational facilities and planted thousands of red cedar seedlings. The work was supervised by the United States Forestry Service. "Lebanon Cedar Forest" officially opened in 1937, with local newspaper editor Dixon Merritt presiding over the opening ceremony. Although the land was managed by the Tennessee Department of Conservation, the federal government retained ownership until 1955.
Botanists began noting the ecological importance of the cedar glades as early as 1901, when German-born doctor Augustin Gattinger (1825–1903) mentioned the glades in his book The Flora of Tennessee and the Philosophy of Botany. Research conducted by Elsie Quarterman
Elsie Quarterman
Elsie Quarterman is a prominent plant ecologist. She is a Professor Emerita at Vanderbilt University.Quarterman completed her Ph.D. at Duke University in 1949 with Henry J. Oosting. During her graduate work and afterward, she also collaborated extensively with Catherine Keever.Quarterman is best...
of Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
led to the forest's designation as a national natural landmark in 1973. In 1995, Cedar Lodge and several other structures built by the WPA in the 1930s and 1940s were placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
The park today
Disc golf
Disc golf is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc." Of the more than 3000...
course.
The park's eight miles (13 km) of hiking trails range in size from 0.5 to 5 mi (0.80467 to 8 km). The 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) Cedar Glades Trail, which begins at the park visitor center, is a self-guided interpretive trail that crosses several cedar glade habitats characteristic of glades found in the eastern basin. The 2 miles (3.2 km) Cedar Forest Trail, which begins near the junction of Cedar Forest Road and WPA Road, loops through a mixed oak-hickory and red cedar forest and passes several sizeable sinkholes and blockfields. The 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) Dixon Merritt Trail begins behind the Merritt Nature Center and provides access to Jackson Cave. The 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) Limestone Sinks Trail is another self-guided trail that passes several large limestone sinks. The 5 miles (8 km) Hidden Springs Trail, which starts near the picnic area, loops through multiple terrain types characteristic of the state forest, including a large limestone sink and associated dry streambed, several substantial cedar glades, and a dense stand of mixed red cedar and oak-hickory forest.
Jackson Cave is one of 18 known caves located in the state forest and the immediate vicinity. The cave's entrance is 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 4 feet (1.2 m) high, and the cave corridor has an average width of 12 feet (3.7 m) and an average height of 6 feet (1.8 m). The cave extends approximately 1000 feet (304.8 m) from its entrance to a large pool of water.
External links
- Cedars of Lebanon State Park — official site
- Cedars of Lebanon State Forest State Natural Area — official site
- Cedar Glades Natural Area — National Park Service entry