Big Teepees
Attractions shaped like Indian teepees (AKA tepees,
tipis) can still be found along America's backroads and highways, although
in greatly reduced numbers from their heyday a half-century ago. Today's sheer
variety of fantasy theme dining and sleeping -- in fake space ships, caves,
trees, medieval castles -- discourages the impolitic act of building new teepees
for commerce.
That doesn't stop wigwam enthusiasts from preserving and restoring the remaining ones. Wigwam Village motels, with their giant gift shop teepee and surrounding semicircle of teepee rooms, can be found in Arizona, California, and Kentucky.
A lesser known lodging, the Tee Pee Motel, survives as eleven units on US 59, in Wharton County, Texas. Built in 1947, abandoned in the 1980s. The sign was repaired and the tee pees repainted in 1996 when the motel was used as a set in a remake of Lolita, but then it was abandoned again. When Byron Woods won $49 million in the Texas lottery, he bought the abandoned motel as a gift for his wife, and the Tee Pee Motel was restored and re-opened for business in 2005.
Teepee souvenir stores cling to life along the old US highways.
Some are doing better than others. The
TePee in Cherry Valley, New York, bypassed on Route 20 decades ago by
faster highways, may hang on simply because it lies sort of midway between Secret Caverns and the Cardiff
Giant (and the somewhat less interesting Baseball Hall of Fame).
In nearby Howes Cave, a Native American museum flies in the face of conventional
teepee wisdom, and appears in the lumpy shape of a local Indian lodge. Historically
accurate? Yes. But we didn't stop to take a photo...
On an Indian reservation in Lupton, Arizona, the Tomahawk Indian Store rears up along a canyon wall, flaming yellow and promising an all-out massacre on your wallet. It's big, as teepees go, and apparently sanctioned by the tribe, so you can feel less guilty about shopping there.
In the northern part of Seattle, Washington, along a developed strip of highway, the Twin Teepees restaurant was a popular local landmark until it was torn down in July 2001.
Remnants of an "Indian Village" can be seen along US 24 outside Lawrence Kansas, including a 50-ft. concrete teepee.
In Medicine Hat, Alberta, a 20-story tall "World's Largest Teepee" is a stylized, skeletal framework of white poles ascending to create the familiar cone shape.
You can spend a night in an actual Sioux teepee at the Minnekahta Tipi Village at Allen Ranch in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Each teepee sleeps six and is $25/night (2001 season).
Address: St Anslem Rd, Houck - Lupton, AZ [Show Map]
Directions: I-40 exit 359 (St Anslem Rd).
Phone: 928-688-2266
Address: 811 West Hopi Drive, Holbrook, AZ [Show Map]
Directions: Historic Route 66
Hours: Always visible. (Call to verify)
Phone: 928-524-3048
Address: 601 N Dixie Hwy, Cave City, KY [Show Map]
Directions: I-65 Exit 53, head east about 1/2 mile, past the fast food places, to 31W. Take the first left and Wigwam Village is a mile or two on the left.
Hours: Always visible. Call for reservation. (Call to verify)
Phone: 270-773-3381
Address: 4098 E Business 59R, Wharton, TX [Show Map]
Directions: Tee Pee Motel & RV Park. North of town on Hwy 183 (Old US 59). Take Hwy 59 South from Houston. Look for the first Wharton exit, Business 59. Motel is about a 1/2 mile on the left.
Admission: Nightly rates.
Hours: Always visible. (Call to verify)
Phone: 979-282-8474
Address: Allen Roe Rd SE, Medicine Hat, AB, Canada [Show Map]
Directions: Visible west from the Trans Canadian Highway, north of Medicine Hat, exit south on S Ridge Dr., turn right on Gehring Rd, then right on Eagle Birth Rd.
Admission: Free.
Hours: Always visible.
