European colonization of eastern North America resulted in widespread loss of old-growth easterndeciduous forest, altering native plant and animal biodiversity. Though recent studies have revealedremnant old-growth forests, it remains uncertain how widespread forests with old growth characteristicsare throughout the southeastern United States. This is especially true near urban centerswhere historical disturbance was likely most pronounced. Yet, small patches of forest with oldgrowth characteristics persist as urban or suburban forested natural areas where they are importantreservoirs of biodiversity and provide crucial ecosystem services. Here, we investigate several uplanddeciduous forest communities in Shelby County, Tennessee, to assess whether urban and suburbanforested natural areas exhibit species assemblage and structural features consistent with commonly acceptedcriteria for old-growth forest, and how they may have been shaped by diverse land usehistories across an urban to suburban gradient. We found community composition broadly similarbetween urban and suburban forested natural areas, but also significant differences in speciesassemblage based on tree densities and basal areas, likely due to unique land use and disturbancehistories. Forests also meet some, but not all, commonly employed criteria for western and mixedmesophytic old-growth forest, including individual tree ages >200 years, consistent with ongoingsuccessional trajectories toward old-growth forest. Nevertheless, the urban and suburban forestednatural areas of southwest Tennessee harbor important plant biodiversity in a region that has experiencedintensive post-colonial anthropogenic disturbance and likely warrant continued thoughtfulmanagement and restoration to attain “new” old-growth status.