Man who bought abandoned mining town for $1.4million reveals what it’s really like to live there

DAILYMAIL.COM • 5h ago

By LILLIAN GISSEN, US DEPUTY LIFESTYLE EDITOR Updated: 00:01 28 Sep 2026

When Brent Underwood’s friend sent him a listing for an abandoned mining town for sale in California and told him he should buy it, it was supposed to be a joke.

But Underwood, 39, had recently transformed an old Victorian house from the 1800s into a bed-and-breakfast in Austin, Texas, and was ‘looking for his next project.’

He quickly became enthralled with the deserted village’s intriguing history and stunning surroundings, and was floored by the endless possibilities of what he could turn it into.

Underwood ultimately purchased the California town, called Cerro Gordo, for $1.4 million in 2018 with the plans to turn it into a vacation destination.

However, transforming the dilapidated buildings into a resort has proven to be quite the difficult task.

He spoke exclusively with the Daily Mail about what it’s been like to live completely alone in the empty town, and broke down his extensive work he’s put into rebuilding it.

‘I’ve always been a bit of an introvert, so the solitude doesn’t bother me much,’ he said of residing in the abandoned village.

‘I don’t have neighbors for dozens of miles in any direction, which means any way that I look there is an adventure to be had. I love that.

‘There’s something very beautiful about living so far away from [other people]. There isn’t the ambient noise that you have in cities but don’t really realize until you’ve left.

‘The stars here are as bright as stars can be, because there is no light pollution to interfere. I feel much more in touch with nature and my thoughts since being here.

‘I never run out of things to do and even after six years, feel like I’m just scratching the surface.’

He recalled instantly falling in love with Cerro Gordo when he laid his eyes on it for the first time in 2018.

‘I was sent the listing for Cerro Gordo from my friend. He sent it in a text in the middle of the night, mostly as a joke,’ Underwood explained.

‘[He sent] the listing with a [text that said], “Haha, this might be your next thing.” I woke up in the morning, researched everything I could about the town, and booked a flight out to see it.

‘The photos couldn’t prepare me for what Cerro Gordo would be like. The road up here climbs nearly 5,000 feet in elevation into rugged mountains, the likes of which I’d never seen growing up in Florida.

‘You drive and drive and finally come around the last corner and the town reveals itself, a beautiful collection of buildings that looks like it’s frozen in time from the 1800s.’

He explained that he had always been interested in history and hospitality, and it felt like it ‘could be a beautiful blend of the two.’

He pooled together his ‘life savings’ and took out a ‘high-interest loan’ to cover the rest, purchasing the entire town for a whopping $1.4 million.

At its peak in the 1880s, the town had a few thousand residents and over a hundred buildings. However, most of them had been lost to ‘fires, weather and repurposing,’ among other things.

And while the idea certainly felt ‘a bit crazy’ to him, he admitted that he definitely didn’t know what he was getting himself into or understand what ‘it truly takes to bring an abandoned town back to life.’

‘When I first bought the town there was about 20 buildings left, all in different states of repair,’ he shared.

‘There were four or five cabins from the 1800s but they would blow over with a strong wind.

‘There is an old general store that I’ve turned into a museum. There is an old brothel, a church, a movie theater, a bunkhouse and the “hoist house” – which inside contains the main Union Mine – a mineshaft that goes 900 feet straight down.’

He explained that his goal is to eventually open a hotel with eight cabins that people can rent, as well as a restaurant and bar.

‘The plan has always been to preserve the history here and introduce some accommodation so people can stay overnight,’ he explained.

‘I want people to be able to experience the [nature] here. It’s stunningly beautiful.’

He’s slowly been ‘stabilizing the buildings that exist so they don’t fall down,’ and while he’s made immense progress, he’s also faced a slew of setbacks along the way.

Particularly, an electrical fire that burned down the hotel when he was nearly finished, forcing him to start from scratch.

‘I feel that since moving up here I’ve had to learn dozens of new skills out of necessity,’ he admitted.

‘[Mostly, I’ve learned to] plan better. If you forget a part, the closest real hardware store is two hours away, you can’t just run down the road to get something. So you have to plan a lot better up here.’

He estimates that the hotel will be finished ‘in the next year or so’ and in the meantime, visitors are welcomed for day trips.

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