A hotel in an old Wild West ghost town burned down 149 years to the day that it opened

Hotel at Cerro Gordo.Brent Underwood/Cerro Gordo

• In 2018, Brent Underwood bought the California ghost town of Cerro Gordo for $1.4 million.
• In April, Underwood became trapped in the town after a snowstorm blocked the road, forcing him to spend the coronavirus lockdown there.
• On June 15, Underwood said a fire broke out and burned down three buildings in the town including the hotel on the anniversary of the day it opened.
• "The hotel was the heart of the town, literally and metaphorically," said Underwood, who is vowing to rebuild it.

Brent Underwood has had quite the spring and summer. In April, he lived out a real-life adaptation of "The Shining" when a snowstorm trapped him in an Old West mining ghost town he purchased in 2018. During that time, Underwood dealt with isolation, a wandering bobcat on the property, and a dwindling food supply.

In the newest chapter in the strange saga of the mining town of Cerro Gordo, the town's hotel burned down on the anniversary of the year it opened – almost 150 years later.

Underwood, a marketer, plans to rebuild, and a GoFundMe page has been set up where people can help with the costs of the construction.

"You just got to rebuild," he told Insider. "We're not giving up."

Read on to find out more about the hotel's history.