WilloWood Inn pays homage to owner’s culture
Back in October of 2020, I published a story titled “WilloWood Inn: A special place in the Baraboo range”. The WilloWood Inn was purchased by Angie Lowe and her husband Aaron in February of 2018. Since, Angie has put in a considerable amount of time and hard work with the help of her family, improving the Inn.
The Baraboo, Wisconsin area, is a tourist mecca of food, spirits, the renowned Devil’s Lake State Park, and home to this quaint vintage motel called the WilloWood Inn.
After publishing the original story, Angie has installed a beautiful pavilion, re-themed room number three, and built a small library honoring her mother Lenore.
Room three now pays homage to Lowe’s Native American culture. Lowe, a Hoocąk (Ho-Chunk) tribal member and Ojibwe, has a special connection to the area, as her ancestors had villages in the Baraboo range and across Wisconsin. “I mean it's just awe inspiring; our people (the Hoocąk) could have walked this path. I think Kristin White Eagle (District 2 Hoocąk Legislator) has really been instrumental in bringing the Ho-Chunk people to the forefront here (Sauk County) and doing some great things for the indigenous people. I think it brought about more of an awareness for me,” Lowe said.
When the Lowe’s first talked about purchasing the Inn, they felt the different themes of the rooms were great, but partially outdated. “We worked on our business plan, and, of course, that involves getting all kinds of brainstorming ideas, and we thought about all the things that we can do as far as themes. We were thinking a Baraboo Circus theme, a Crane theme, just trying to come up with all kinds of ideas. So, I thought, I'm going to update a couple of the rooms. This is my third room now that I've redone. The first one was just one of the rooms in the cabin that I had repainted and gave it a just a subtle look. Then, I redid room number four which was the grandma's room, it needed to be updated. So, we changed that one to a North by Northwest theme,” said Angie.
Another room, room three, was next on the list and most recently changed, which Angie said was an apple themed room. “It was all apples and was cute, but it wasn't very creative. I went back to my ideas that I originally started thinking about, you know, the crane room, a circus room, or movie themes, because I love old movies.” She mulled it over for a while.
Admittingly, Angie shared that one of her favorite parts of her job, is learning more about her guests. “When they come here, I talk to them and I get to know them. I learn about their family, where they're from, what their interests are, just in passing conversations. So, I thought, maybe people might be interested in knowing about us and where my family comes from and what we're about.”
Lowe said that she wanted the room to tell her and her family’s story. She wanted to incorporate different elements of Hoocąk culture and about the culture of her children. “Two of my children are Hoocąk, Sioux, Assiniboine (Nakota), Blackfoot, and Ojibwe. I wanted to incorporate elements into that room that told the story about our cultures. My brother Chris, has painted a beautiful mural in there and contributed the dream catchers. I want to share the stories of some of these elements in the room, so that guests, when they see our guest directory in the room, can read the story that goes with the elements of that room. I tried to keep the elements in there natural so you'll see natural wood. The dream catchers are made of the willows that came from our trees here before they came down.” Lowe pointed out she incorporated artwork from local Native American artists. I also played a small part. On one of the walls, hangs two frames with several photos I took one year at a couple Hoocąk powwows. The photos depict women in their applique regalia.
Lowe said it truly was a family affair remodeling the room. “The work was pretty much done by most of my family. They’re always helping me with everything here on the property. My sons, Austin and Josh, helped in the renovation and my brother Chris came along and helped with the artwork. We all had a part in recreating this room and renovating it. Anyways, it usually takes my whole family to get a project like this done. Oh, I can't forget Chrissy (Chris’s wife), because Chrissy always contributes something. She is always side by side with Chris on everything that he does. So, she's always there, whether it's managerial support or moral support.”
I would be greatly remiss if not to mention a special edition to the property. Recently Lowe’s Nani (mother) Lenore, celebrated a birthday hosted at WilloWood. In honor of the matriarch, the family again chipped in to create “Lenore’s Library” for guests to enjoy. Located just to the left of the office and built into a stump, Lenore’s library pays tribute to their mother’s love of reading and education. “We had three ash trees on the property that we had to have cut down. One of them was a beautiful ash in front of room number 16 and 17. I had this grand idea about having a carving made out of the stump. I wanted to do something, some kind of cool design that people could appreciate outdoors. That thought kind of came and went, and I decided that we would make a free library out of it, because we've got all these books here on the property that aren't visible in this room (the office) because there's so much to see in here. Sometimes, people come in and they look around, they're like, ‘Wow, you could probably spend 15 minutes in here just looking at everything’. I thought that the tree stump would be a great place for the books and a library. My mother is an avid reader, and she kind of encourages us all to grow in learning. She says you're never too old to learn and just kind of embrace anything that might be educational. So, she inspired us in that way. I thought, I want to dedicate this to her because that's kind of where we all get that. I wouldn't say necessarily a love of books, but a love of learning. She's always encouraged us to learn.”
Not one for receiving gifts, Lenore was surprised with an unveiling of the library during her birthday celebration. Lowe mentioned that the majority of the work creating the library was done by Austin and Chris. Those are my kind of main go-tos when I need muscle and art,” Lowe said with a chuckle.
Lowe shared, when she and her siblings were growing up, they were always taught to be hospitable to people, and that's probably why she enjoys being an innkeeper. Her culture is deeply rooted and immensely important to her and her family, and has incorporated bits and pieces of that culture throughout WilloWood. “We've held a Native American artist’s market here before, and I look forward to doing more stuff like that. We recently did a Ho-chunk basket making class with Kim Crowley (Hoocąk), and there were nine of us in that class. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and it was a unique experience. I'd like to bring more experiences like that to WilloWood not just for my family, but for other folks in the area that would like to learn about making baskets, and incorporating educational experiences to learn more about our culture.”
Lowe admits serendipity plays a big role at the WilloWood Inn, “because things always just kind of fall into place and they happen for a reason and when they're supposed to happen”. Lowe said she has learned to be more patient with projects, and stressed they come together when they're supposed to. “So, I don't know if I'm going to do any more with room themes.” That's yet to be seen though.
