European colonization of eastern North America resulted in widespread destruction of old growth eastern deciduous forest, negatively impacting native plant and animal biodiversity over the last several centuries. However, remnant old growth forest may be more common than previously thought, and urban forested natural areas may also contain old growth forest elements. While harboring important native eastern forest biodiversity and providing important ecosystem services, these forests may also be threatened by continued anthropogenic disturbance, especially if such forests remain “hidden” or uncharacterized. The objectives of this study were to investigate the presence of potential eastern old growth elements in several urban forested natural areas around Shelby Co., TN and to compare these forests to the Overton Park Old Forest State Natural Area in Memphis, TN to better understand how potential differences in land use history may have shaped the studied forests. We used stratified random plot sampling to obtain species composition, stem density, basal area, and coarse woody debris measurements. We also obtained cores from a subset of the largest trees to estimate minimum ages for each surveyed forest. We show that the studied urban forested natural areas meet some, but not all, commonly employed criteria for old growth forest elements consistent with ongoing recovery trajectories from anthropogenic disturbance. The studied forests are also distinct in species composition, likely due to unique land use and disturbance histories. Nevertheless, the urban forested natural areas of Shelby Co. harbor important native biodiversity in a region that has experienced intensive historical anthropogenic disturbance.