Cherokee, NC - Teepee-fronted cabins gave Mac's Indian Village a memorable place in Cherokee's roadside history. This unusual motor court even landed a role in the movie Digging to China.

Mac's Indian Village
Cherokee, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

A glimpse of teepee-shaped entrances among the trees was enough to make travelers turn toward Mac's Indian Villagenear Cherokee. These weren't freestanding teepees like the concrete accommodations at Wigwam Village. Instead, tall, painted metal fronts surrounded the doorways of conventional wooden cabins, turning a small tourist court into something motorists would remember. By 2008, only four of the distinctive entrances remained. 04-08

A teepee close-up
Cherokee, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The property dates to the 1930s, with accounts commonly placing its beginnings in 1934. Its development coincided with improved mountain highways and the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which brought growing numbers of automobile vacationers into the region. A vintage postcard promoted Mac's as being at the entrance to Cherokee and the national park, emphasizing its convenient position for travelers exploring both.

The cabins used their architecture as advertising. Approximately twelve feet tall, the teepee fronts gave otherwise modest buildings a striking appearance, and visitors recalled neon outlining their sloping edges after dark. The design borrowed a broadly recognizable image of Native American life rather than representing traditional Cherokee housing. It belonged to the themed tourist architecture that became especially prominent around Cherokee during the automobile travel years.

Mac's Indian Village
Cherokee, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

At its larger extent, Mac's reportedly included sixteen cabins of different sizes. The separate buildings followed the earlier tourist-court arrangement, providing individual entrances and parking nearby. Trees softened the setting, giving it a different atmosphere from the long, open rows of rooms at later motels. The cabin behind each decorative entrance supplied the practical accommodations; the theatrical front supplied the attraction.

Hollywood eventually noticed the setting too. Mac's served as a filming location for Digging to China, the late-1990s drama featuring Kevin Bacon and Evan Rachel Wood. Its unusual cabins suited the film's roadside-motel setting, giving the property a screen appearance beyond its years in postcards and vacation photographs. For moviegoers seeking the real location afterward, the teepee fronts provided an especially recognizable clue.

Mac's Indian Village teepees
Cherokee, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The business experienced several closures and reopenings. Following a closure in 2005, it returned under new operators by 2007. A 2008 update described renovations to the remaining themed cabins and shared management with nearby Qualla Motel. Some buildings received siding that emphasized a rustic log-cabin appearance, adding another layer to a property already altered over decades of use.

UPDATE: Mac's has featured fake teepees at its location since 1934. These days, the teepees are down to just four. Many thanks to Richard Weiss for info. 04-08

Teepees and marquee
Cherokee, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

UPDATE: Mac's Indian Village is open for business.  My husband and I have been running it for over a year now. It had been closed for a while.  Eight months ago we took the Qualla Motel across the street. We are remodeling some of the tee pees and people come from all over to stay here and have been for many years. They've been there around the early 1900's. Many thanks to Phyllis, owner of Mac's Indian Village, for update. 05-08

UPDATE: Have you seen “Digging to China”?  They used Mac’s as a location for the movie, filmed in 1998. Many thanks to Julie Kravec for update. 05-08

UPDATE: The former Mac's property became associated with Qualla Cabins and Motel, which continues operating. A 2025 offering marketed both properties together, retaining the Mac's Indian Village name in the property records. Much of the original themed appearance has changed, but its documented history preserves an unusual chapter in Cherokee's roadside lodging business—one where the entrance to a modest cabin became the feature travelers remembered. 11-26

Mac's Indian Village Cherokee, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss	Mac's Indian Village teepees Cherokee, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
Mac's Indian Village Cherokee, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss	Mac's Indian Village Cherokee, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

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