Hohenwald is a small town in the Tennessee hills, and it has two peculiar claims to fame. The first is in its name, which is German for high forest, and which reflects the Swiss settlers who founded a colony here in the 1870s, hoping to make a new life in the hills of Middle Tennessee. The colony struggled, but the name and a trace of that heritage remain. The second is more recent and rather more surprising: the town is home to an elephant sanctuary, set up in the 1990s as a refuge for old and retired elephants from zoos and circuses.
The sanctuary covers hundreds of acres of hilly woodland and pasture, and it is the largest natural-habitat refuge of its kind in the country. It is not open to the general public in the way a zoo is, because the whole point is to leave the animals in peace, but the town has an education centre that explains the work, and a live camera shows some of the elephants. It is an unexpected thing to find in a small southern town, and the people of Hohenwald seem to take quiet pride in it.
The town sits near the Natchez Trace Parkway, and the countryside around it is classic Tennessee: low wooded ridges, small farms, creeks in hollows and the occasional glimpse of limestone. Riding the roads between here and the Parkway is easy and unhurried, with gentle curves and light traffic, and the surface is mostly good. The Parkway itself is a few kilometres away, and its long, quiet curves are among the best relaxed riding in the region. Watch for deer, and be careful on the narrow county roads, where gravel can wash across the corners after rain.
The town has fuel stations, a few diners and a grocery, and for a larger selection you need to go to Lawrenceburg, about forty kilometres away, or toward Columbia. Local barbecue and a plate of country cooking are the sensible options, and fried pies and sweet tea are never far away. The weather is warm and humid in summer, with sudden thunderstorms, and mild and bright in spring and autumn.