An Elephant in the Ozarks

An Elephant in the Ozarks

By:  a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures

 Dear Henry,

Here’s something I did not expect to see that day.

We were driving toward Beaver Dam when I glanced to the right and saw, down in a gully, a giant elephant standing quietly among the trees.

An elephant.

In the Ozarks.

It took a moment for my brain to catch up with my eyes. This was not a zoo. Not a parade. Not a hallucination brought on by too many miles of road. Just a very large, very still elephant, permanently parked where no elephant has any business being.

Later, we learned the story.

Once upon a time, this stretch of road was home to something called Dinosaur World, one of those mid-century roadside attractions designed to make long drives more tolerable and childhood memories just a little strange. Families would stop. Kids would beg. Cameras would come out. For a while, it worked.

And then, as so many of these places do, it didn’t.

Roadside attractions like Dinosaur World rose alongside the golden age of the American road trip, when highways were new, gas was cheap, and stopping was half the fun. Giant dinosaurs, concrete animals, themed parks, mystery spots—these places existed less to educate than to delight, to surprise travelers who weren’t in such a hurry to get where they were going.

Eventually, though, interstates shortened journeys, priorities shifted, and novelty gave way to efficiency. Dinosaur World closed. The crowds vanished. The business faded.

But the elephant stayed.

Now it stands as a quiet remnant of a different kind of travel, one that valued the unexpected and rewarded looking out the window instead of down at a map. A relic of a time when roadside wonder didn’t need explanation or justification.

I suppose you could call it a Jurassic Park ghost town.

Or maybe it’s just a reminder: even when the attraction disappears, traces of our wanderlust have a funny way of lingering, waiting patiently in a gully for someone curious enough to notice.

xoxo,

a.d. elliott

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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life

She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.

You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.

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