Glen Leven Farm

A Dynamic Landscape.

Glen Leven Farm is a dynamic landscape that includes:

• An heirloom vegetable garden planted and maintained by The Hermitage Hotel for their Capitol Grille restaurant
• An education garden and honeybee sanctuary
• An arboretum with 25+species of trees
• Hops grown by Jackalope Brewery
• Two miniature donkeys, Will and Dave (named for Williamson and Davidson Counties)
• A Greek Revival home constructed in 1857 and several agricultural structures and outbuildings

Glen Leven Farm is not regularly open to the public, but we host scheduled workshops, field trips, open days, group tours, volunteer days, pasture walks, arboretum walks, cultural events and lectures.

Schedule a Tour or Field Study

The Hermitage Hotel Garden at Glen Leven Farm

Through a partnership connected by land and history, The Hermitage Hotel manages a 2-acre heirloom garden at The Land Trust for Tennessee’s Glen Leven Farm. It is here, just fifteen minutes from the hotel where they grow vegetables to be served at The Capitol Grille and the Oak Bar.

The Hermitage Hotel also supports our organization through a visionary program whereby guests may donate $3 per room night to The Land Trust for Tennessee for land conservation across the state and to support our education and outreach efforts at Glen Leven Farm. Through the guest giving program, The Hermitage Hotel has raised more than $880,000 to support our mission.

ARBORETUM & DAFFODILS

The trees in the Glen Leven Farm arboretum stand taller than many in Nashville and tell stories of the place. In 2012, The Nashville Tree Foundation designated Glen Leven Farm as an arboretum. Glen Leven has over 25 different species of trees and shrubs that are labeled for public enjoyment and education. The arboretum includes the largest mass of American Yellowwood in the United States, a White Ash, a Basswood, an American Beech, a Dogwood, a Ginkgo, a Black Walnut, a Sugar Maple, a Chinkapin Oak, a Laurel Oak, a Pecan, a Hedge Maple, and a Trifoliate Orange tree, all of which are past winners of the Nashville Tree Foundation’s Big Old Tree Contest.

There are also at least 16 different varieties of heirloom daffodils growing on property. In 1837, John Thompson ordered a variety of bulbs from Holland for his two daughters, Mary and Margaret, who were suffering from tuberculosis. Their doctor had recommended that they spend time outdoors in the fresh air, and John thought cultivating flowers would bring them great pleasure. The 1837 order included 12 Narcissus Jonquilla Simplex bulbs. This diminutive flower with an intense scent still blooms at Glen Leven Farm every spring.

Jackalope Brewing Company

Nashville-based Jackalope Brewing Company grows hops at Glen Leven Farm. Owner Bailey Spaulding (former Land Trust legal intern turned master brewer) and her team plants and maintains the hops, which are used annually in a seasonal Jackalope release with a percentage of sales donated to The Land Trust. The first hops were planted in 2013.