Center for Cedar Glade Studies

The Center for Cedar Glade Studies will copartner May 2 to May 4, with Cedars of Lebanon State Park and Long Hunter State Park for the 47th Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival, renamed in 2008 for Vanderbilt cedar glade ecologist and professor, Dr. Elsie Quarterman.

Please join us for the Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival, the evening of May 2 and all-day May 3, 2025 at Cedars of Lebanon State Park; then May 4th at Long Hunter State Park. Most events will take place outside, weather permitting. Keep in mind extreme weather or excessive rain will cancel most outdoor activities.  Click here for the 2025 Schedule (soon to be posted, shown here is 2024).

Please NOTE: Preregistration is required for some events due to space limitation. Some events require a small fee for materials. Most events are free (although the State Parks registration system will ask for a donation that is optional). Click here for more information. 

What’s Happening in 2025!

Friday Evening Program, May 2: Join us at 7pm at the Cedar Forest Lodge for two great presentations! Light refreshments will be served, complements of the Center for Cedar Glade Studies and Friends of Cedars of Lebanon, please come!

Saturday, May 3: Bird-watching in the morning (7am to 8:30am) with Dr. Jeffrey Walck, Professor of Biology at MTSU.
-Dr. Matt Niemiller, herpetologist, will unleash the kid in you as he leads a hike to search for slimy and dry scaled animals (9am to 11am)
-There are 3-hour morning and afternoon hikes with botany professionals: the morning hike is 9am to noon and afternoon hike is 1pm to 4pm with Holly Taylor, Associate State Naturalist, and Milo Pyne, NaturServ, retired. 
-Native plant specialist Rosemary Marshall will lead a program (9am to 10am) about gardening with our beautiful native plants, showcasing the native plant garden at the Nature Center.
-There are family-friendly activities from Ranger Shauna Bridges throughout the day that teach cool things about cedar glades.
-You will learn more about the geology of the glades from 10am to 11am and a discussion about fossils from 3pm to 3:30pm with Ron Zurawaski, TN Department of Geology, retired. 
-Sharen Bracy will lead a native edible plants program (noon to 1pm) and provides samples of her delicious jellies, juices, and dips.
-.The very popular session, ‘Sketch a Coneflower’ will be (1pm to 2pm) with professional artist and MTSU professor, Erin Anfinson, will let you explore your creative side.
-Dr. Matt Niemiller, will lead a cave program to discover “Karst and Kreepy Krawlers” in Jackson Cave. Waiver’s must be signed and bring a change of clothes…you WILL get muddy! (3:30pm to 5pm).
-Grab dinner in Lebanon or grill hotdogs at the park on your own. Plan to stay Saturday evening for the evening program (7pm to 8:30pm) Owl Prowl led by Cedars of Lebanon park rangers.

Shown here is the 2024 Elsie Quarterman Program of Events.The 2025 schedule is being finalized and will be posted soon.

Sunday, May 4: Couchville Cedar Glades at 10am with Jason and Leslie Ann Allen.  Then indoors at Long Hunter State Park Visitor Center in the afternoon, learn more about glades from Jason Allen!

If you have questions, contact Kim.Sadler@mtsu.edu PH: 615.904.8283, or contact Ranger Shauna Bridgers at  Shauna.Bridgers@tn.gov or call the park office which is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. PH:  615.443.2769.

Limestone cedar glades are globally unique and fragile habitats found primarily in Middle Tennessee. Viewed historically as wastelands, they support a plant community of highly specialized species, many of which are found nowhere else in the world.  (Gattinger’s Prairie Clover, Photograph by Darel Hess.) 

• What are the cedar glades?
• Research on the cedar glades
• Teaching from the cedar glades
• Preserving the cedar glades
• What is the Center for Cedar Glade Studies?
• Video and Media