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CABIN CREEK, Colo. — If you love tiny towns, now is your chance to own one.
Cabin Creek, a "ghost town" in rural Adams County near Byers, is officially on the market.
"We've had so many people look it`s been amazing," said James Johnson, who owns the tiny road-side village along Highway 36. He recently placed a "for sale" ad for the town on Craigslist.
For $350,000, you get an old service station, a café, an abandoned motel, and a small house.
Johnson first drove by Cabin Creek decades ago, and he had to have it. People thought he was crazy. But in its prime, it was quite the gathering spot.
"The couple who owned the town, and ran the cafe, served the best chicken fried steak in the state," said Joan Lippett, who lives in Byers and used to frequent Cabin Creek.
But sometime back in the 70s, something bad happened at Cabin Creek.
"There was a murder there. There was some people that they took in, felt sorry for or something, and they found out the couple had money," Lippett said.
That's when Cabin Creek's fate as a ghost town was sealed.
"Then everything just, literally, there was nobody here, so these buildings sat totally vacant. Nothing going on out here for a number of years," Johnson said.
He once had big plans for the town. He wanted to turn it in to a Route 66-style tourist attraction. But now his wife has bigger plans: retirement.
"Were looking at Idaho or Montana I think. Were ready to get out of town even farther than this," Johnson said.
Now, he's hoping a fellow nostalgia buff will come along with a vision. And about $350,000.
"The hardest part out here is you`re not going to get a regular conventional loan on this property. You say ghost town and they say what?," Johnson said.
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