The greatest roadside attraction of the early 20th century is for sale!* Wigwam Village, the quirky, kitschy, and delightful motor court with steel frame and concrete sleeping rooms in the shape of tepees, is on the market.
I may be a bit biased about the appeal of Wigwam Village, as I am a fan of the themed motels and motor courts that popped up along America’s nascent roadway system in the years before World War II. But there is no doubt that as the only surviving Wigwam Village in Kentucky, Wigwam Village#2 has a certain amount of fame and cachet.
Wigwam Village in Cave City, Kentucky.
Travelers along America’s roads swelled after World War I and motor courts began to sprout across the country. Many motor courts built during prior to World War II employed fanciful themes (tepees, windmills, and the like) and separate cabins or cottages. In 1933, the American Automobile Association estimated that 30,000 “tourist cottage and camp establishments” lined the country’s road system.
Sign outside Wigwam Village #2.
Frank Redford, a native of Horse Cave, Kentucky, created and developed the first two Wigwam Villages. In 1933, Redford, inspired by a trip to California, and looking to cash in on the tourist attraction of Mammoth Cave and the recently paved US Highway 31E in Horse Cave, opened a gas station and lunch room featuring a stylized tepee that could seat 20. Customers loved it, and two years later, Redford added motel rooms to the site.
Two of the rooms at Wigwam Village #2.
Redford had big dreams -to patent the “Wigwam Village” idea across the country. His first step in that direction was to build Wigwam Village #2, a larger operation than his first roadside site in Horse Cave.
Along US 31W in Cave City (much closer to Mammoth Cave), Redford oversaw the construction of the architectural landmark. Fifteen sleeping rooms painted in white and red, with the distinctive “folds” of the tepee accenting the entry door, were built around a larger structure that served as the lunch room/office (and two smaller tepees built as restrooms).
Mid-20th century view of Wigwam Village #2. Image from Kentucky Historical Society, Ronald Morgan Kentucky Postcard Collection, Graphic 5.
The lunch room/office, later to become a gift shop, is 52 feet high and 32 feet wide. The individual tepees are all 20-25 feet in diameter and each have two windows. The interiors include one or two double beds, and a bathroom.
I love this sign.
The interiors of the sleeping rooms (Redford’s preferred term) originally included Authentic Navajo rugs and blankets purchased during trips to Arizona, and rustic hickory furniture.
I can attest from my several stays that the decor has not retained its integrity – but what an incredible opportunity for someone to go all mid-century modern on the interior!
Individual sleeping room, circa 1988. Image from the National Register of Historic Places files.
In the late 1930s, an Arizona motel owner named Chester Lewis visited Kentucky’s Wigwam Villages, and bought the rights to the design from Redford. Over the next two decades, Lewis would build four more Wigwam Villages across America, including Wigwam Village No. 6 in Holbrook, Arizona.
The Arizona Wigwam Village, circa 2008.
In the 1940s, Redford built another Wigwam Village (known as Wigwam Village Motel No. 7) in Rialto, California. In 1957, Redford died at the motel.
Vintage advertising for road travel & lodging at a wigwam village.
The first Wigwam Village in Horse Cave was sadly demolished in 1982. Unique experiences appeal more to travelers these days, and Wigwam Village #2 is the perfect place for social distancing, as you can sit outside in the fresh air in front of your sleeping room and enjoy a cocktail a safe distance from other guests. And Wigwam Village #2 is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and therefore eligible for historic tax credits. It’s the perfect opportunity for an adventurous entrepreneur!
*There is a hyperlink at the end of the first sentence of this post. If you have problems accessing that link, here is the url for the real estate listing (please note, I am not selling Wigwam Village, nor am I a realtor): https://www.usamls.net/southcentralky/default.asp?content=expanded&this_format=0&mls_number=41197
Great read, thank you
Thanks for reading!
I love this! There was a teepee village near Bernalillo, New Mexico which I found fascinating – or maybe it was on the way to Roswell New Mexico. Rats.
I would love an interior view!
Thank you for this interesting post!
Wats the price of it
There is a link in the first sentence of the post; the asking price is $395,000. https://www.usamls.net/southcentralky/default.asp?content=expanded&this_format=0&mls_number=41197
Just went back to top of post, did not see link anywhere in post.
The link is a hyperlink – if you click on the words “for sale” at the end of the first sentence, that will take you to the realtor’s site. Here is the link: https://www.usamls.net/southcentralky/default.asp?content=expanded&this_format=0&mls_number=41197
I now live in Colorado, but grew up in Portland TN. We always passed those villages on the way to Mammoth Caves, but sadly, never stayed! I hope the person who buys it will fix it some, and maybe, someday, I’ll still get to stay when I bring my kids back home. Thank you for the lovely read, and reminder.
So how much is it. It doesn’t say how much it’s listed for. It just says for sale
There is a link in the first sentence of the post; the asking price is $395,000. https://www.usamls.net/southcentralky/default.asp?content=expanded&this_format=0&mls_number=41197
My grandparents lived in Cave City and Park City. I loved visiting them and driving by the teepees! Thank you for bringing up some great memories!
Stayed there two years ago. A nice bucket list item but someone will need about half a million dollars to get the place up to par. In speaking to the owner, each Tee Pee will cost $1000.00 to paint the outside. None of the large radiators that supplied heat to the tee pees work, so heating systems would have to be replaced. The list of work to do is endless!
Love this! I have stayed here and thought it was just great, would love to see it stay open and be taken care of. Thank you for the history!
How much
There is a link in the first sentence of the post; the asking price is $395,000. https://www.usamls.net/southcentralky/default.asp?content=expanded&this_format=0&mls_number=41197
How much are they selling it for?
There is a link in the first sentence of the post; the asking price is $395,000. https://www.usamls.net/southcentralky/default.asp?content=expanded&this_format=0&mls_number=41197
Expense for one night? Any electricity?
My kids and I stayed there. It needed up dating but it was a fun night. The kids loved it. Well so did I.
I got to stay one night as a juvenile, mother was going to Mamouth Cave, the next day, which we didn’t get to do, because the extra quest we took with us didn’t want to go… so Mom changed her plans to accommodate our plus 1…. But it was fun… I hope someone buys the property and fixes it up…. these places are great memories. You only experience maybe once in a lifetime… I hope someone does spend the time and money to restore and keep them going.
You need to post pictures of the inside…
Sadly, I don’t have any photographs of the inside. The real estate site with the listing does have a few: https://www.usamls.net/southcentralky/default.asp?content=expanded&this_format=0&mls_number=41197
My parents and I would often stop for lunch at Wigwam Village #2, en route down US31-w to visit my Arkansas grandparents. The (pine-paneled, I think I recall) interior of the largest wigwam, where the lunch counter was located (with cooking facilities in the middle), worked as a whispering gallery, which my father was fond of demonstrating – he’d go to the far side of the room, then softly speak – my mother and I could hear him clearly! We joked that other travelers should watch their words, for fear of unknowingly spilling secrets.
I seem to remember ordering a grilled cheese sandwich, my usual childhood order. The menu leaned to burgers and other grilled treats.
The gift shop was in the basement of the largest wigwam (the staircase was to the left of the front door as you entered), and offered typical tourist souvenirs – postcards, inexpensive toys, etc. I still have two little Japanese bisque dolls purchased there, a little boy and little girl representing Indians, sold in a sadly now-lost red checkered box, labeled 25 cents! They were a good investment of my allowance and are good reminders of the simple pleasures of dining at Wigwam Village #2 during the mid-fifties. Happy memories.
Thanks for letting us know Wigwam Village #2 is for sale – I hope its new owner(s) will appreciate its quirky charms and will restore it sensitively and appropriately.
BTW, I was one of your dear cousin Anne Kenney’s best friends…miss her enormously.
I am so glad this revived some good memories for you! And Anne Kenney was a treasure; I always loved to see her smile at our family reunion.
I looked at the photos after writing the above – looks as if my childhood memories were right on target! The pine-paneling and former gift shop in the basement are still intact – just need to bring back the industrial kitchen equipment, stools for the circular counter, and stock the gift shop shelves with souvenirs!
The place must have made a huge impression on me, for my memories to be so accurate after all these years. Thanks again for featuring this unique place.
My friends and I made a small trip exploring some of Kentucky; one of the places we stayed was Wigwam Village, Tepee 10. We loved it! I still have the moccasins I purchased in the gift shop. I don’t know where the replica of Tepee #10 is, but it is around here somewhere.
That would make a great artist colony. Studios in the smaller teepee and the gallery in the larger. The state should purchase it, historical site plus local artist gallery would be a tourist draw. West Virginia and South Carolina have state run galleries. I always stop at them.