The Warner Parks grew from the efforts of Luke Lea, Percy Warner, and Edwin Warner. In 1927, Colonel Luke Lea deeded the initial 868 acres to the city of Nashville, and Percy Warner, then chairman of the Park Board, promoted preserving a natural area park for the city in the spirit of the great national parks. After Percy Warner's unexpected death later that year, Lea successfully petitioned to name the new park for him, while Lea was also honored in the naming of Luke Lea Heights. Edwin Warner joined the Park Board after his brother's death, later became chairman, and drove the parks' expansion and development, including personally funding the purchase of much of the land west of Percy Warner Park and across Old Hickory Boulevard; in 1937 that land was designated Edwin Warner Park. Now more than 3,000 acres in the Nashville Basin, with limestone outcroppings, hills, ridges, valleys, and rich deciduous forest, the parks protect native flora and fauna, including about one hundred tree species, more than four hundred wildflowers, two hundred fungi, nearly two hundred bird species, thirty mammals, and about forty reptiles and amphibians. The parks provide a peaceful urban forest refuge for recreation, wildlife viewing, and appreciation of the natural world. In 2004, Friends of Warner Parks, working with Metro Parks and supported by the Lucius E. Burch III family and others, helped add nearly 500 scenic acres to Edwin Warner Park as the Burch Reserve, protecting habitat, vistas, and recreation opportunities. The parks also face damage from invasive exotic species, and staff, volunteers, and visitors work to help control their spread.

Photo: Darren Jefferson Clay

Nashville-Davidson metropolitan government (balance), Tennessee · USA