Clarksville’s local home and garden center, Caledonia Forest, is more than just a store to shop for plants and home and garden supplies. The store on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard is a branch off of the wildlife conservation center opening in 2025 in Dover – just 30 minutes outside of Clarksville.
Their Clarksville location is both an education resource and an income source to support the mission of forest and wildlife conservation. Caledonia Forest’s owner, Miss Linda Blackmoor, started the line of shops as a revenue generator to help fund their mission to open up a wildlife conservation park. With a personal investment of over $2 Million dollars to fund her mission, she has purchased 500 acres of their 20,000 acre goal.
“I’m cleaning out my bank account to fund this mission – that’s how incredibly important this is to me,” Blackmoor said. “But I can’t do it alone. Through fundraising balls, Clarksville locals shopping at our store, online sales nationally, and through donations and grants, we will be able to reach our goals of opening our doors in 2025.”
Caledonia Forest focuses on a mission of saving our forests and saving our wildlife. Some of the animals guests will be able to see at the park are monkeys, giraffes, zebras, goats, camels, alpacas, peacocks and other exotic birds, foxes, wolves, coyotes, racoons, lemurs, possums, bobcats, deer, elk, squirrels, lynx, coatimundi, porcupines, highland cows, geese, horses, donkeys, reptiles and more.
The conservation park and reserve will also have places to eat, a petting zoo, gardens, shopping centers, and the ability to make overnight reservations at their woodland rentals.
“Every $10 spent at our store plants one tree at our conservation park. The remainder of all profits go directly towards building and opening our park,” Blackmoor said. “Our community can support the mission either through direct donations, shopping at our store off of Wilma Rudolph, or even by helping to spread the word about our organization so we build awareness of our mission. Even with over $2 million personally invested, we still have a long way to go before we can bring this vision to life.”
This will be an exciting new addition to our local communities. It will be an escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life. You’ll be able to step into a park-style reserve with an unusual aesthetic. Blackmoor wants people to envision it beyond just another “zoo.”
“This will be unlike anything seen in Tennessee. Guests will have a much more intimate relationship with the animals at our reserve, walk through stunning gardens and sculptures, and learn about the importance of saving our forests for the future of our planet,” she said.
If you are interested in supporting the opening of Caledonia Forest’s wildlife reserve and conservation park, you can shop their store at 2269 Wilma Rudolph Blvd., Clarksville, TN. You can also make direct donations for their cause at www.CaledoniaForest.com.
You can stay up to date on their mission and how best to support them by following their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/caledoniaforest