I Bought a GHOST TOWN

This abandoned California mining village once had 400 buildings. Now I'm restoring the 20 that remain.

-  Brent Underwood, Clint Carter

IN 2018, BRENT UNDERWOOD SUBMITTED A WINNING $1.4 million bid on a network of dried-up silver mines in Southern California. The property includes 336 acres of high-desert terrain and the remains of a mining boomtown called Cerro Gordo, or "Fat Hill."

After COVID-19 hit, Underwood moved from his home in Austin, Texas, to live at Cerro Gordo full-time. Now he's the sole inhabitant of a genuine Wild West artifact.

The day we closed on Cerro Gordo, my partner and I met the caretaker to receive the most preposterous key chain I've ever seen. There must have been 40 keys hanging off. It happened to be Friday the 13th and my partner's birthday, so after signing the papers, we retreated to Cerro Gordo to celebrate.

The plan back then was basically the same as it is now: We want to turn the old mining town into an offbeat hospitality destination and artist retreat. Things just haven't run as smoothly as we'd hoped.

Originally we talked about soft-launching a few cabins on Airbnb by Halloween 2019, but logistical challenges, a catastrophic fire, and a national pandemic have continued to push that date back. Now here we are in 2022, still not open for overnight guests, and for the past two years, I've lived at Cerro Gordo alone.

Don't get me wrong, the town is humming. Volunteers show up frequently to help me restore the old buildings, and brave travelers drive in over nearly eight miles of steep, rough gravel for self-guided tours. But it's a lot of work to put in without any serious income.