Most People Don’t Know There’s A One Of A Kind Elephant Ranch Near Nashville

Located roughly eighty miles outside of Nashville, The Elephant Sanctuary of Hohenwald, Tennessee has become a place of sweet reprieve for retired elephants. The sanctuary focuses on elephants that have a past in show business and is licensed by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency as well as the US Department of Agriculture as a non-profit. You may not be able to visit, but we'll take you on a neat virtual adventure!

Why can't you visit? Well, these animals have spent their lives entertaining humans, from zoos to the circus, and they simply deserve to live out the rest of their days in peace and quiet. There are cameras set up along the property, however, and you can tune in to their feed from the comfort of your home. You get to see Tennessee's most majestic creatures without disturbing their new habitat, a win-win!

The sanctuary opened in 1995 and has given twenty-seven elephants (mainly the ladies!) individualized attention and care during the whole of their stay.

The Tennessee naturalized habitat stretches over 2,700 acres, giving both the Asian and African elephants on the property the expansive facility they deserve. This isn't just a zoo pen, folks.

The acreage is broken down into three different areas. The Asian elephants have a space that reaches 2,200 acres, there's a 200 acre area for quarantine (even elephants get sick!), with 300 acres set aside for the African elephants.

You can visit The Elephant Discovery Center in downtown Hohenwald if you're looking to learn a bit more about the sanctuary and its lovely elephants in residence. Every one of them has a name, and you can track their progress from home, too! You may just fall in love. The sanctuary pivots its attention more towards female elephants, as an FYI. Lady elephants are simply held in captivity more often than males - it's a sad, very real, fact.

Tennessee was chosen as the spot for the Elephant Sanctuary due to its mild, warm climate as well as our solid seasonal variation. The elephants love our abundant foliage, too! Don't worry about the winters though, folks - the facility provides heated barns that they can hunker down in throughout the property.

What a beautiful place! You can check out the EleCam right here, and you can donate to the betterment of the elephants as well.