Wigwam Village Motel #6

The name and the building disagree. These concrete cones are modeled after tipis, not wigwams; the National Park Service records that designer Frank Redford rejected the accurate word when he patented the roadside concept in 1936. That mismatch is more than trivia: it shows how mid-century tourism repackaged Indigenous architecture into an automobile-age sign.Chester E. Lewis saw Redford’s Kentucky village in 1938, bought the plans and naming rights, and paid royalties through coin-operated radios—every dime for 30 minutes of music went back to Redford. Completed in 1950 as the sixth of seven villages, Holbrook’s semicircle holds 15 steel-and-concrete units, each 21 feet wide and 28 feet high, around an office conceived as the “chief’s” quarters. Vintage cars and original hickory furniture carry the roadside time capsule forward.Interstate 40 pulled traffic away in the late 1970s, but Lewis’s family repurchased the property and reopened the motel in 1988. It remains family-operated and accepts year-round reservations. Treat the historic terminology as evidence of its era, not cultural authority: living Indigenous cultures are not motel décor. The official office contact window is 3:00–9:00 p.m. Mountain time, and arrivals after 9:00 require advance arrangements. Rooms, parked cars, and guest areas are private; book directly, call before expecting museum access, and do not wander the court as a photo set. More

The name and the building disagree. These concrete cones are modeled after tipis, not wigwams; the National Park Service records that designer Frank Redford rejected the accurate word when he patented the roadside concept in 1936. That mismatch is more than trivia: it shows how mid-century tourism repackaged Indigenous architecture into an automobile-age sign.Chester E. Lewis saw Redford’s Kentucky village in 1938, bought the plans and naming rights, and paid royalties through coin-operated radios—every dime for 30 minutes of music went back to Redford. Completed in 1950 as the sixth of seven villages, Holbrook’s semicircle holds 15 steel-and-concrete units, each 21 feet wide and 28 feet high, around an office conceived as the “chief’s” quarters. Vintage cars and original hickory furniture carry the roadside time capsule forward.Interstate 40 pulled traffic away in the late 1970s, but Lewis’s family repurchased the property and reopened the motel in 1988. It remains family-operated and accepts year-round reservations. Treat the historic terminology as evidence of its era, not cultural authority: living Indigenous cultures are not motel décor. The official office contact window is 3:00–9:00 p.m. Mountain time, and arrivals after 9:00 require advance arrangements. Rooms, parked cars, and guest areas are private; book directly, call before expecting museum access, and do not wander the court as a photo set. More