I grew up hearing stories about the Pink Motel. My grandparents would take my mother and aunt, when they were kids, each summer. My aunt would always go out to the “creek” behind the motel to catch minnows in a Dixie Cup and my mother’s favorite part was seeing all the Indians dressed up in Cherokee. Back then, the Pink Motel really lived up to its name with pink towels, pink sheets, and even pink toilet and toilet paper, according to my grandmother. (The sheets, tiles and wallpaper in bathroom are still pink but the front desk advised me that people kept stealing the pink towels so they switched to white!)
My mother and aunt are now in their 50s, but I’ve always been intrigued. So my husband I made the journey up to the Pink Motel this past weekend. The motel is what you would call “quaint.” It is defiantly older and starting to show it. Our room had some stains on the ceiling and a poorly replaced ceiling tile that wasn’t very attractive. The room was comfortable though. The air conditioning worked sufficiently. The TV was huge. The bathroom is small and the sunken tub was nice except for sporadic water pressure at “busy” times. If you’re looking for a place where the maids fold the end of the toilet paper into a triangle, this is not it. (That’s the bad part.)
The good part is that when you walk out the back door. There is a back porch that runs the length of the motel. You have an amazing view of the Oconaluftee running right outside of your room. My husband and I went down and skipped rocks and strolled. There are picnic tables and grill. You can almost see the iconic 1950’s family grilling hotdogs! It’s a beautiful setting and begs you to take your morning cup of coffee out back to sit and relax.
We found the people at the desk to be very friendly. The motel is located conveniently to many of the Cherokee sites. We were able to stop at the room several times as we drove back and forth to different sites. There is food next door at Peter’s Pancakes and across the street at the Big Boy. While the Pink Motel is no Ritz, it is a quiet and quaint “home base” for a Cherokee stay. I’m sure that there are fancier places to stay in Cherokee, but we were quite content with our stay.
- Pink Motel Cherokee
- Pink Hotel Cherokee

