Wigwam Village
Cave City, KY Photo courtesy Wiley Brewer
Why settle for an ordinary motel room when you can sleep in a wigwam? Wigwam Village in Cave City gives travelers an unusual overnight option, with its teepee-shaped cabins arranged around a central lawn. Built by Frank Redford, the property combines a place to spend the night with the kind of oversized roadside architecture that makes a trip memorable.
Joy Motel (Gone)
Eureka Springs, AR Photo courtesy Stewart Isbell
The boomerang arrow at Joy Motel gave this Eureka Springs property a particularly colorful roadside introduction. Its neon lettering and dramatic shape complemented a lodging business whose history reached back to the early days of automobile tourism in the Ozarks.
Ray and Chloe Freeman established Camp Joy in the late 1920s. A swimming pool followed in 1933, along with stone cabins, three of which survive. Motel buildings gradually replaced most of the cabins between 1954 and 1974. In 2017, the founders' great-grandson Tim Freeman purchased the property and renamed it Wanderoo Lodge.
UPDATE: The property remains open as Wanderoo Lodge, preserving several buildings from its earlier years. The Joy name has disappeared from the business, but later documentation records the vintage sign surviving the change. The campground that grew into a motor court continues welcoming Ozarks travelers. 11-26
Pink Motel
Cherokee, NC Photo courtesy Steve/Back on Tack
Step into the Pink
Motel and you may feel like you are in a fantasyland, but not just
because of the neon pixie on the sign. Lodgers will find the action along
Highway 441 out their front door and the serenity of the Oconaluftee River
out the back. Picnic tables and grills allow visitors to experience the
Great Smoky Mountain outdoors. Lillian Schmitt, a long-time manager of
the Pink Motel and the Newfound Lodge in Cherokee, passed away at age
85 a couple of years ago, but the business continues on. Many thanks to Steve/Back on Tack for info.
Lois Queen Farthing opened the motel in 1953. According to the family story, pink sheets helped the laundry distinguish her linens from those belonging to other motels. The color became a theme throughout the property. Her daughter Lyna's enthusiasm for Disney's newly released Peter Pan reportedly inspired the Tinkerbell figure on the sign, giving the display a personal connection beyond its advertising purpose.
Pink Motel
Cherokee, NC Photo courtesy Greg West
The riverside setting supplied another attraction for vacationers heading toward Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Picnic tables and grills allowed guests to spend time outdoors without leaving the grounds, combining the convenience of a highway motel with a place to relax beside the water. The pink exterior and imaginative marquee made the property especially recognizable among Cherokee's many tourist accommodations.
UPDATE: Pink Motel remains standing and has shifted toward long-term rentals. Its familiar neon sign survives as a reminder of the property's years welcoming overnight vacationers. More than seventy years after opening, the pink buildings and roadside pixie still give this stretch of Cherokee an identity all its own. 11-26
Pink Motel
Cherokee, NC Photo courtesy Greg West
Pink Motel
Cherokee, NC Photo courtesy Greg West
Triangle Motor Inn
Jacksonville, NC Photo courtesy Paul Bauke
The tall sign at Triangle Motor Inn marked a familiar lodging stop along Jacksonville's U.S. 17 corridor. Its roadside location served travelers passing through eastern North Carolina, including visitors connected with nearby Camp Lejeune. The marquee gave the property a recognizable presence along the busy highway.
Hurricane Florence brought a dramatic interruption in September 2018. Overnight winds tore away part of the roof, prompting an emergency evacuation as the building became unsafe. Much of the damaged complex was subsequently demolished, substantially changing the appearance and size of the old motor inn.
UPDATE: Triangle Motor Inn continues operating from the surviving portion of the property. The familiar roadside sign remains, connecting the smaller establishment with its earlier highway identity. Although much of the original complex has disappeared, this Jacksonville lodging landmark has carried on after the storm. 11-26
Joy Motel (Gone)
Triangle Motor Inn
