About Your Visit
to Warner Park Nature Center

Location

7311 Highway 100
Nashville, TN 37221
(615) 352-6299 phone
(615) 880-2282 fax

Hours of Operation

Warner Park Nature Center is open Tuesday - Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m and is closed on Sunday and Monday.

Warner Parks are open sunrise to 11:00 p.m., 365 days per year.

Other Information

• Free admission
• Free programs offered year-round
• Pets allowed; must be on 6 foot or shorter leash
• Collecting of plant, fungi, wildlife, or other natural or historic items prohibited without permit from Metro Parks (Contact Nature Center for permit information)
• 15 MPH bike/pedestrian speed limit on greenway
• Bike on paved trails only
• 15 MPH vehicle speed limit on park roads
• Motorized vehicles not permitted on Greenway or Old Roadway trails
• Camping not permitted in parks
• No alcohol, drugs, or firearms allowed in parks at any time
• No hunting or trapping permitted

Directions to Warner Park Nature Center

From Nashville, take Interstate 40 west to exit 199 (Old Hickory Blvd.), turn left and follow Old Hickory Blvd. for 4 miles to Highway 100 (Old Hickory will dead-end at this intersection). Turn left and go 0.2 miles to the Edwin Warner Park entrance and turn right into the Park. Follow the Park drive to the left for 0.3 miles to the Nature Center.

Coming from the south or southeast, follow Old Hickory Blvd. north (west exit off I-65 near Brentwood) to Hwy. 100. Turn left and go 0.3 miles to the Edwin Warner Park entrance and turn left into the Park. Follow the Park drive to the left for 0.3 miles to the Nature Center.

Warner Park Nature Center Map 

Activities

Hiking and Trails

• 12 miles of primitive hiking trails
• 3 miles of paved accessible trails for walking and biking
• The "Old Roadway", over 5 miles of paved trails for walking and biking
• 10 miles of horse trails
• 7 self-guided interpretive trails
  Little Acorn Trail
  Hungry Hawk Trail
  Nature Loop Trail
  Owl Hollow Trail
  Geology Trail
  Meadow Tree Trail
  Warner Parks Tree Trails

On the Nature Center Campus

• Natural History Museum
• Organic Garden & Beehives
• Teaching Pond
• Nature Play Nature Play Brochure.pdf
• Hummingbird & Butterfly Gardens
• On-site Library
• Native Fern Garden
• Wildflower Garden
• Bird Feeding Stations

Wildlife Viewing

Warner Park Nature Center and Warner Parks are ideal sites to view many species of wildlife. Crepuscular hours (dawn and dusk) are especially active times for viewing diverse populations of mammals, amphibians and birds. Warblers and many other neotropical migrants may be seen or heard in early spring and fall. The backporch is a wonderful spot to observe hundreds of hummingbirds during fall migration. American toads, chorus frogs and spring peepers can be heard calling in late winter and spring; the Teaching Pond on the Nature Center Campus provides the perfect environment for listening and observing amphibians and reptiles throughout the year.

Mammals are abundant year-round, with white-tailed deer spotted regularly along with eastern cottontail rabbits, gray squirrels, eastern chipmunks, and coyotes.

If you aren’t sure what you saw, or maybe you ARE sure and want to tell someone about it, please stop by the Nature Center and ask to speak to a naturalist. We can often help you identify wildlife and make note of it in our records.

To learn more about Tennessee’s wildlife, visit TWRA’s new Watchable Wildlife website.

Please remember that collecting, taking, hunting or harassing any wild animal within Warner Parks is strictly prohibited. Fishing is permitted at Willow Pond and the Little Harpeth River with a valid Tennessee Fishing License.

Warner Park is an Important Bird Area (IBA)

The Important Bird Areas Program (IBA), directed by BirdLife International and coordinated in the Americas by National Audubon Society, is a global effort to identify and conserve areas that are vital to birds and other biodiversity.

IBAs are key sites for conservation – small enough to be conserved in their entirety and often already part of a protected-area network. To qualify as an Important Bird Area, sites must satisfy at least one of the following criteria:

• Species of conservation concern (e.g. threatened and endangered species)
• Restricted-ranges species (species vulnerable because they are not widely distributed)
• Species that are vulnerable because their populations are concentrated in one general habitat type or biome
• Species, or groups of similar species (such as waterfowl or shorebirds), that are vulnerable because they occur at high densities due to their congregatory behavior

Learn more about Warner Park IBA status
Learn more about IBAs in Tennessee
Learn about birding in Tennessee at the Tennessee Ornithological Society

Orienteering & Geocaching

Scouts and other outdoor enthusiasts can learn or practice their map and compass skills on the Edwin Warner Park Map and Compass Course. Classes are regularly offered as public programs or may be scheduled by contacting the Nature Center. Edwin Warner Map and Compass.pdf.pdf

Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online. Thanks to a permitted member of the Middle Tennessee Geocachers Club, Warner Parks has several hidden “treasures” within its boundaries!

Learn more about geocaching and the Middle Tennessee Geocachers Club.