A neon sign glows pink and blue against the night sky along Highway 23, a beacon welcoming weary travelers the way roadside motels have for generations. At Acorn Ridge Motel in Princeton, that vintage signage is just the beginning of the retro charm visitors will encounter.
“When people check in, they talk to a real person and they get handed a real key instead of a code for the door,” says owner Mae Wilton. “It’s a different experience. It’s old school, warm hospitality.”
Mae and her husband Mark moved from the Chicago suburbs to Green Lake in 2022 with their four children, who at the time were all under 5. Mae had grown up spending summers at her grandfather’s Green Lake house and these visits led her and Mark to invest in area rental properties. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted them to make their longtime vacation destination their fulltime home.
The Wiltons, who also operate Green Lake Shuttle, quickly immersed themselves in the community. Mark serves as Green Lake’s Main Street director, and the couple bought the 14-room motel in spring 2024. Originally built in the 1960s as Barnekow’s Patio Motel, preserving the motel’s retro, mid-century aesthetic was important to the Wiltons.
“When you walk into the rooms, it’s like a time capsule,” Mae says. “It’s wood paneling on the walls. It’s mid-century modern furniture. When you go back and you read all the reviews, people loved that part of it — so let’s embrace this and celebrate it.”
The motel’s location between Green Lake and Princeton — within 20 minutes of four award-winning golf courses — has been a boon to business.
“Our golf packages are what keep us completely packed,” Mae says.
Acorn Ridge is also a favorite of outdoor enthusiasts, hunters and fishermen.
“When the fishermen come, they all pull their boats on the lawn. People hang out in the parking lot using the grills. It’s just a vibe,” Mae says. “Mark and I met as summer camp counselors, so this to me is like a summer camp for adults.”
In October they added Tim’s Hardware Store, a speakeasy-style bar in the basement of the motel office, to enhance the guest experience and generate additional revenue. Mae’s dad, Tim, took the lead on building out the bar, which is named as a nod to family jokes about running to the “hardware store” as a euphemism for hitting the local bar.
“We built the bar thinking it would be really great for our motel guests, but the most surprising thing is that everyone who lives around here loves it. So even in our offseason, it’s been really busy and people have been very thoroughly enjoying the space,” Mae says.
The property itself carries decades of history. As the Wiltons renovated the motel, they discovered treasures from the past — old signage, matchbooks and trinkets from the Barnekow era. Mae also worked with Princeton’s historical society to source vintage photographs of the area which she plans to incorporate into the guest rooms.
“This place has so much history, and I want to celebrate that,” she says. “I wanted to showcase the area because I think that’s what drives people here.”
