Wigwam Village No. 2

I can't remember when I first became aware of the Wigwam Villages, but ever since I did, I've been obsessed with staying in one (and then, of course, the other two). It seemed sensible to begin with the one "closest" to me—Wigwam Village No. 2, in Cave City, Kentucky. In fact, our entire recent ALL CAPS EPIC ROAD TRIP OF DELIGHTS was planned around an overnight stay at the Wigwam Village. Everything else we did along the way there and back was really just a bonus as long as we got to SLEEP IN A WIGWAM, I was happy.

The first Wigwam Village was built in 1933 by Frank A. Redford, in Horse Cave, KY. When No. 2 opened a few miles away in 1937, No. 1 closed and was demolished in 1982. No. 2 has 15 wigwams arranged in a semi-circle (technically tipis, but I don't think Frank was too concerned about cultural sensitivity at the time). Subsequent villages were built in Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Arizona and California, and only the last two still remain.

Each wigwam has one or two beds, a bathroom (small, but normal by New York standards), a TV, window AC, vanity and chair. Outside there is space to park one car and a bench for each Wigwam. The hickory furniture is original to the rooms, and I immediately fell in love with the zigzag detail repeated throughout the bathroom. Each concrete and steel Wigwam is 14 ft in diameter, so it's not a luxury suite, but it was clean, the shower pressure was great, and it was everything I had expected from an 80-year-old roadside novelty motel (and only $84 for a double room on the weekend).

The village also includes a large central wigwam, which originally housed a restaurant, but now serves as a gift shop and office. We were lucky to chat with the lovely owner while we browsed the gift shop, but he had some disheartening things to say about bad reviews that have hurt his (already precarious) business. He explained that the wigwams are basically one step up from camping, and that it was impossible to combat the unrealistic expectations people have for the 80-year-old motel.

It was sad to hear that some guests aren't as thrilled as we were to stay in what I consider to be a true American treasure—one that's been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988. I can only hope that there are enough novelty architecture-, roadside attraction- loving people left in the world for the three remaining Wigwam Villages to survive.

The Cone

When we were planning our recent road trip, my friend JMP casually mentioned that we should try to hunt down an ice-cream-shaped ice cream stand to add to our itinerary. I replied "oh, I already did," and sent her information for The Cone, located in Tylersville, Ohio (a suburb northeast of Cincinnati).

The Cone is a Twistee-Treat-style ice cream stand, like the Twist o' the Mist in Niagara Falls or the two I visited back in October in Massillon, Ohio. The Cone is the first orange-and-white color scheme I've seen on these buildings, and I love how infinitely customizable they are. We saw a lot of people ordering the orange and white twist cone, which must be their specialty. I definitely would have ordered it just for the novelty factor, but orange ice cream sounds horrible to me, so I had a root beer float which was excellent.

They had garbage cans shaped like ice cream cones, a water fountain shaped like a lion AND a pressed penny machine, which is the holy grail of any roadside stop, in my opinion. As if the main building wasn't charming enough, they also had a few "Mobile Cones," topped with sprinkles and I can't think of anything cuter to catch cruising around town.

Willy the Whale

My friend Jean-Marie and I recently embarked upon a three-day road trip that we dubbed the ALL CAPS EPIC ROAD TRIP OF DELIGHTS (you can browse our silly hashtag on Instagram, if you'd like: #allcapsepicroadtripofdelights). The destination was Wigwam Village no. 2 in Cave City, Kentucky, but as with any proper road trip, it was mostly about the journey. Our first stop after picking up our rental car was the site of the former Mother Goose Land fairy tale park, in Canton, Ohio.

Mother Goose Land opened in Canton in 1954 and closed in the 1980s. It sat abandoned until fairly recently, when Willy and the park's entrance gates received some much-needed attention. The park originally had storybook and animal displays such as Humpty Dumpty and the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe, and sadly Willy is all that remains. You can actually see Willy from Google Earth which delighted me to no end when I first went looking for him and spotted his distinctive shape.

Across from Willy there is a mural which appears to fairly new, paying homage to fairytale characters such as Humpty Dumpty, the three little pigs, the three blind mice, the gingerbread man, Puss n' boot and even (a quite sinister-looking) Willy himself. There's not much else to the park and it was deserted when we were there on a Saturday morning. I wish I had been able to see the park in its heyday, but  I'm so grateful that Willy survived and that attention, however little, is once again being paid to Mother Goose Land.

Twist o' the Mist

As part of our recent Buffalo trip, we decided to spend a day exploring Niagara Falls. Niagara, NY is very close to Buffalo—I'd been to the Canadian side many times as a kid, but never saw much of the American side. There were a few kitschy things on the American side that I wanted to check out so I was content to not cross the border this time (we'll be back!). 

Top of my list was the Twist o' the Mist, an ice-cream-shaped ice cream stand. I've been obsessed with novelty architecture as long as I can remember. Buildings that are shaped like what they contain/sell make me so very happy. I used to live within a few minutes of three of these ice cream-shaped buildings, officially called Twistee Treats. I visited two of them on a return trip to Ohio last year, and I've been eager to find more since.

I love puns and clever names almost as much as novelty architecture, so of course I love the Twist o' the Mist play on the "Maid of the Mist." We weren't quite at the dessert portion of our day yet, so we sadly didn't patronize the Twist, but the proclamation that they have 56 Flavors really intrigues me. It seems excessive, but so does an entire building shaped like an ice cream cone, so I guess it's just perfect.

The Tepee

I was in roadside attraction Nirvana recently when my dude and I hit the road to go visit his parents in Buffalo, NY. We decided to make a proper road trip of it, and gave ourselves one whole day to make the 6.5/hour journey. When I realized that our proposed route would take us right by The Tepee, I immediately added it to our must-see list.

The Tepee is located halfway between Cherry Valley and Sharon Springs, NY, right off of Route 20 (also halfway between Boston and Niagara Falls). It was built in 1950 and is currently owned by the Latella sisters, the third family to own to Tepee. It's always been a souvenir shop, filled with Native American-themed gifts—which I suppose is exactly what you should expect to find inside of a huge, metal tepee.

The site offers a panoramic view of Cherry Valley, which you can enhance via a (somewhat cloudy) "telescope for public use" by the American Lens and Photo Company. There are also snacks available at Tepee Pete's Chow Wagon, including what their website hails as his "nearly famous chili."

I'm thrilled that there are still wonderful people out there like the Latella sisters, who see the value in a weird little roadside attraction like the Tepee. I hope that people continue to slow down and pull over to check out the view, buy a pennant or pair of moccasins or just to say hello.

Twistee Treat

When my friend Katie told me that she would be getting married about five minutes from where I used to live in Massillon, Ohio, Jim and I started planning a roadtrip. He'd never really been to Ohio before, and I was eager to revisit a few spots that I took for granted when they were part of my every day commute. I was particularly excited to see the two Twistee Treats that are a few minutes apart and just down the road from the last place I lived in Ohio.

According to Roadside Architecture, Twistee Treats are "28 feet tall and 20 feet wide fiberglass ice cream cones topped with cherries. The design was created by Robert G. "Skip" Skinner who built the first location in North Fort Myers in 1982. The buildings were produced in Cape Coral, FL. They were made from 19 pieces of fiberglass and assembled on-site. By 1986, there were 30 locations, all of them in Florida. It is believed that about 90 of these buildings were produced over the years. About half of them have been demolished."

Chubby's is definitely my favorite, and as far as I can tell one of the nicest ones that still exist. The cherry, fudge, raised lettering and hand-painted signage really bring it to the next level. While we were creeping on it, the owner actually pulled up to collect her planters. We thought she was going to question why we were creeping on her obviously closed business, but instead she apologized that they had just recently closed for the season. She also remarked "there's no doubt what we sell," which is what I love about novelty architecture. Is there anything more charming than getting ice cream from a building shaped like an ice cream cone? Nope.

The other location is more sparse than Chubby's, but any building shaped like what it sells is perfect in my book. I do love the matching umbrellas, and this Twistee Treat gets the distinction of being the only one that I've actually patronized. We went through the drive-thru once and I got a chocolate-dipped cone that was a very delicious but hazardous choice.

There is another Twistee Treat quite close to these two, but it's nearly identical to the pink one and was slightly out of our way so we didn't get to it. After browsing the #twisteetreat hashtag on Instagram and seeing one for sale, Jim and I promptly developed a fantasy of buying one, plopping it in a New York park à la Shake Shake and retiring as millionaires—with a lifetime supply of ice cream that looks exactly like the building in which it was made.