Taking inspiration from the New Harmony community in Indiana, Wright traveled to Tennessee in the fall of 1825, and bought about of land along Wolf River about thirteen miles from Memphis. Wright founded a community at this wilderness site, which she named Nashoba. To demonstrate that her idea was a viable way to abolish slavery, she purchased about thirty slaves, nearly half of them children, to live in the experimental community. Her plan was for the slaves to gradually acquire their freedom through their labor on the property. Wright also planned to eventually colonize the newly emancipated slaves to areas outside the United States.