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

Long before the four-lane highway whisked visitors into Cherokee, travelers who turned onto little Tee Pee Drive were greeted by one of the most unusual roadside motels in the Southeast. Mac's Indian Village wasn't flashy by modern standards, but the giant painted teepees standing in front of each cabin made it almost impossible to forget. Whether you arrived in the middle of the day or spotted the red neon outlines glowing through the trees after dark, it was the kind of place that practically guaranteed a second look. Photo courtesy Richard Weiss.

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

Mac's Indian Village opened in 1934 and is believed to be one of the oldest motels serving the Cherokee area. During the early days of automobile tourism, thousands of families passed this way on their way to the Great Smoky Mountains, and places like this gave them something far more memorable than just another room for the night. Instead of building ordinary tourist cabins, the owners attached oversized painted teepee facades to the front of each one, creating a roadside attraction that quickly became part motel, part souvenir, and part vacation memory.

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

Unlike the famous Wigwam Villages found in Arizona, California, and Kentucky, guests here didn't actually sleep inside concrete teepees. Behind each colorful facade was a rustic wooden cabin with simple accommodations that changed very little over the decades. That old-fashioned atmosphere became part of the appeal. Visitors remembered the unusual cabins, the quiet setting tucked just off the highway, and the feeling that they had stumbled across one of those places that hadn't changed much since the 1940s.

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

At night the property took on a completely different personality. Bright red neon traced the outlines of the giant teepees, glowing through the trees and catching the attention of passing motorists. More than one traveler admitted turning down Tee Pee Drive simply to see what was hiding behind the lights. Once there, guests found themselves surrounded by a little village of teepee-front cabins that looked unlike anything else in the Smokies. The owners even handed out vintage postcards, giving visitors another keepsake from an already memorable stop.

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

Hollywood eventually found its way to Mac's Indian Village as well. The distinctive motel appeared in the 1998 film Digging to China, starring Kevin Bacon and Evan Rachel Wood. Guests often asked if the actors had stayed in the cabins during filming, but according to the owners, the cast stayed in trailers nearby. Even so, seeing the little motel on the big screen only added to its growing legend among roadside travelers.

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

As newer highways bypassed Tee Pee Drive, fewer motorists wandered past the motel. The steady stream of vacation traffic that had sustained places like this for decades gradually shifted elsewhere, and Mac's slowly slipped into decline. By the time this photo was taken, many of the teepee facades had already disappeared, the neon had long since gone dark, and nature was beginning to reclaim the cabins. Even in that condition, it wasn't hard to imagine how magical the place must have looked when every teepee was standing and every outline glowed against the North Carolina night.

Today only a handful of those distinctive teepees remain, quietly hidden among the trees. They're enough to remind anyone passing by that this little roadside motel was once one of the most unusual places to spend the night anywhere in the Smokies.

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

Here are the abandoned cabins of Mac's Indian Village of Cherokee, NC. This complex is on a road long bypassed by a four lane a few hundred feet in the background. It is from this four lane that we spotted the backlit profiles of the Tee Pees and had to see what they were.

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

Essentially this is more or less the standard cabin motel of the pre-war years, but with a Tee Pee facade in front of each one. You will notice one still had a metal lawn chair and that there is a merry-go-round in the playground, another symbol of a by-gone era. The old neon sign is difficult to read.

Teepees and marquee
Cherokee, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

Bad as this looks, do not consider it out for the count, there were signs of life here. One of the cabins had been completely rebuilt (not shown here) and when I took a peek inside one of the others I found it full of new windows just waiting to be installed. It may not be long and this roadside classic may once again be open for business. 04-08

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: Mac's Indian Village remains closed and abandoned. The original roadside sign has disappeared, and only a few of the iconic teepee-front cabins survive today. 08-26

Google Street View Image

Back to more Spotlights from the Southeast