Ghost town becomes luxury hotelfrom @iambenwolff

Transcript

This eighteen eighty's ghost town is now one of America's most unique hotels. Hidden deep in the Colorado Rockies, it just received two Michelin Keys, the only resort in the state to do so. This is Dutton Hot Springs, a perfectly restored eighteen hundred's ghost town in the San Juan Mountains. Founded in 1885 as a silver mining camp built around five natural hot springs. At its peak, hundreds of miners lived in the valley. But by 1918, the mines went quiet and the town was abandoned. For seventy years it cycled through chapters that most luxury hotels would best: A cattle ranch, a dude ranch, a biker hangout, a hippie commune. Then in 1994, German entrepreneur Christoph Henkel bought the entire town. What followed was a seven year log by log restoration. Many cabins were so far good, they had to be taken apart entirely. Every log numbered, then reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle. Today, there are 13 restored cabins arranged in a circle around the original saloon. Max 44 guests across the entire town. And here's the key difference between Dutton and most luxury hotels. The restoration didn't erase the history. It celebrated it. Original log walls are stacked horizontally. New additions like bathrooms are built with vertical sidings no you can always tell what's original. The nineteenth century saloons bad top is still there, where legend says Butch Cassidy carved his name after his first bank robbery in Telluride in 1889. The original bathhouse has charcoal graffiti on the walls from over one hundred years ago. You can soak in five natural hot springs ranging from 85 to 106 degrees. You can eat dinner at a communal table where every meal is built around what's seasonal that day. You can heli ski, ice climb a frozen waterfall, or fly fish on private water. Most properties try to manufacture this kind of history. Dutton just preserved theirs. Would you stay in a restored ghost town? Let me know in the comments and follow for more content like this.