A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Treasures of the Wilderness Lodge

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

TREASURES OF THE WILDERNESS LODGE

By Jim Korkis

November is the month that the annual Blessing of the Four Directions by Native Americans takes place in the lobby of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge.

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge celebrates not only American craftsmanship and the beauty of nature but also the people who lived in the great outdoors.

The lobby is a tribute to Native Americans. Whispering Canyon showcases cowboys as depicted on the backs of the chairs. Territory Lounge is the home to the explorers. Artist’s Point celebrates the painters who captured the images of the wilderness.

The eight story atrium lobby is so overwhelming that some Disney guests fail to appreciate the smaller details scattered throughout the space at eye-level that enrich the story.

Located behind the Guest Services Desk is a large mounted gold key. In 1995, the resort was recognized with the grand prize for “Excellence in Hospitality Design” in the lobby/reception category at 14th annual Gold Key Awards by International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Association. The “Mickey head” on the key was meant to remind the cast members to always unlock the magic in their hearts for the guests.

Also behind the Front desk are a beautiful collection of cradleboards. A cradleboard was a wooden frame and a soft skin pouch used for the protection of a baby or “papoose”.

The Spirit of America Discovery statue in the show at The American Adventure pavilion at Epcot has a Native American woman with a cradleboard on her back. The statue is meant to suggest the sixteen year old Sacagawea, the Native American woman who helped guide the Lewis and Clark expedition, along with her newborn baby.

Within the first few weeks after a baby was born, the mother would begin to lace the baby into the cradleboard so that it could be carried on the woman’s back or hooked onto a saddle. Left to right, the cradleboards behind the Front Desk represent the North American Indian tribes of Crow, Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Ute, Kiowa, Navajo and Comanche.

A striking and unique garment is the Elk Tooth Dress located near the lobby elevators. It is made of red wool blanket or stroud cloth which was considered a desirable decorative fabric. This type of dress was typical of the Kiowa and Arapaho plains tribeswomen.

This particular dress was obviously the possession of a warrior’s wife since elk teeth are a great display of wealth. An elk only has two teeth and a dress might take hundreds of them. Most hunters saved the teeth as a memento of the hunt.

This rare dress, which has been determined to be from around 1875, was worn for special ceremonial occasions like a wedding.

Something that is easy to miss located to the right of the lobby side of the fireplace, is the elevated Library area of Whispering Canyon restaurant. It has both Gustav Stickley chairs and Frank Lloyd Wright tables and china cabinet. Stickley was a proponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement, traditional craftsmanship in simple forms.

The pottery and ceramics that adorn the cabinet are authentic Arts and Crafts pieces from the Arts and Crafts Movement. They are a hundred years old. Mass production by machines were becoming more common so the Arts and Crafts Movement emphasized the appreciation for hand-made glass and pottery because they expressed the unique individuality of the particular artist.

Located to the left of the Whispering Canyon Café on the wall near the restrooms is a painting that is a reproduction of the work of Thomas Moran, an important panoramic Western landscape painter and illustrator. Moran is well known for his paintings of Yellowstone that helped inspire the creation of the area as a National Park in 1872.

Other interesting artifacts bring a sense of reality and history to the lobby and are worthy of a moment’s appreciation.

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Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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