When Betsy Ann Cowley purchased Pulga, an abandoned town in the heart of California's Plumas National Forest, she didn't have so much as a whisper of a business plan, but she knew how to graft and make something out of nothing. Her determination and resourcefulness, along with the help of steadfast friends, breathed new life into a forgotten corner of the world, though the state's devastating wildfires threatened to derail her piece of paradise. Click or scroll on to discover how Betsy rescued this remarkable mountain retreat, not once, but twice...
A chef, artist and 'jack of all trades', Betsy became the owner of a derelict wild west town in 2015 when she was 28 years old. The Minnesota native was living at Fifth Avenue Marina, an artist's community in Oakland, when she first heard about the town of Pulga. She was searching for a new adventure, perhaps a chance to create her own collaborative community, and the outpost was listed for just $500,000 (£410k). Cowley went halves on the $177,000 (£145k) deposit with her supportive step-father, Bucky Zimmerman. “He took a leap of faith with me," she says.
When we sit down to speak, the main water line in Pulga is broken, one of the many challenges of running a remote 64-acre outpost. Betsy has called a myriad of places home over the years, from New York and New Orleans to France, but something about Pulga's rugged, untamed beauty and storied history captured her imagination: “This place is just so magical – I am a steward of the land... it’s absolutely impeccable and incredible, there are butterflies and species of plants that blow my mind."
Located three hours outside of the San Francisco Bay Area in California's Butte County, Pulga sits deep in a canyon. While Betsy didn't have a business plan in mind when she bought the town, its natural landscape was a draw – she previously studied water preservation, desert-syle farming and land management in Arizona. “I bought this property because there’s water and there’s a good diversity of trees,” Betsy explains, the former being particularly valuable in the Golden State. Pacific Gas and Electric even hold their environmental studies in Pulga because of its unique microclimate.
The two-road town was dilapidated and swamped by foliage when Betsy first arrived at the property, with 35 goats, seven 300-pound pigs and her cattle dog, Leeanne, in tow. Mother Nature had reclaimed so much of the town that it was hard to see all that Pulga had to offer: "Initially I didn’t even know that there were houses back behind the railroad because it was so overgrown," she says. It was a far cry from the bustling mining town that stood here in the 20th century.
The indigenous Concow Maidu people were the first to call the canyon home, before American settlers claimed the land amid the California Gold Rush. A town was established here in 1885, and it flourished thanks to its rich mining prospects, wagon trail and railway. While the population dwindled by 1960, the property was used privately for vacations for a time, before it was sold in 1994 and run as a commercial retreat. By 2015, when Betsy took over the reins, the buildings had sadly fallen into disrepair.
But turning the page on a new chapter for the historic town would prove laborious work. Many of the buildings were barely standing and the scope of the overhaul required was vast. To make the project more challenging, the renovation budget was almost nonexistent, leaving Betsy to tackle much of the work herself. She explains: “It probably took me about a couple of years because I didn’t have any money, I was just working with what I had."
The first job to tackle was clearing the dense foliage that had consumed much of the town. Ingeniously resourceful, Betsy couldn't afford to pay out for a tractor to remove the overgrowth, so she put her goats and pigs to work instead. She explains the process of uncovering the buildings and rescuing the original wood to reuse in the renovations: "I ran my goats through, then I brush-cut, I piled and I burned, then I sent my pigs in and they rooted up and then I was able to see the material I had to use to put it back together.”
While this back-breaking work was underway, Betsy lived onsite: “When I first moved here I had all of my stuff in trash bags in the basement of the school... I would just work and then fall asleep on the floor.” Luckily, a friend brought down a teardrop trailer for her to stay in. In the early days, locals made bets on how long she'd last, but Betsy quickly became ingrained in the region's folklore. A rumour circulated on an online community page that she'd shoot at passing cars' tyres – something that never happened, yet she wasn't in a hurry to dismiss her new image as a fierce frontierswoman.
Betsy had previously worked in production and set design, establishing the skills and 'make-do' mentality that would serve her well when she took on Pulga. She learnt to build and improvise out of nothing, salvaging materials where she could and putting in the hard work and long hours to bring the town and its buildings back to life. But she didn't do it alone – she had an army of friends and fellow artists who stepped in to help, often travelling across the country to pitch in. “Women 100% built this town,” she says.
Pictured here is the structural framework of what would become the Loft House. Betsy built 64 new structures and cabanas to accommodate the town's visitors. She also had a hideaway of her own where she could relax and unwind away from the main town: “My friend had built a small house up above Fern Gully that I later moved into that no one ever really knew about.”
It's no exaggeration to say that Pulga has been resurrected from the undergrowth. Thanks to the hard work and perseverance of Betsy and her friends, electricity, running water sourced from a natural spring, and working toilets were installed across the town. In addition to the new structures, the town's historic buildings were sensitively restored and brought back to life. Here you can see the completed Loft House, located in Downtown Pulga, with its characterful exterior clad in salvaged wood and metal.
Inside, the Loft House offers welcoming, rustic accommodation with two queen beds nestled on the upper floor and beautiful exposed wood grains throughout. Betsy rents the town out for weddings, events and retreats, and while the site has WiFi and more recently Starlink, there's no phone service out here – Pulga offers an opportunity to unplug from screens and social media, and tune in to nature.
Also located in Downtown Pulga, the Pink House is one of the outpost's quirkiest residences. Featuring a distinctive pastel exterior, the cabin has been fitted out with stunning woodwork, a wood-burning stove for the cooler months, and front and back porches. It's nestled on the banks of the creek, offering tranquil views of the river from the rear of the property. Inside, there's a queen-sized bed and, perhaps less expectedly, a drafting table.
That's because the Pink House is sometimes used as a studio by artists who visit Pulga on a residency. Betsy, who herself paints realistic oil portraits, created the programme to champion creatives. “I want this place to help springboard people… I want them to succeed… this is a place of freedom and love and care and support where the man isn’t going to come down on you,” she explains. In exchange for working at the town, artists are given a cabin and a space to pursue their work. Betsy only asks that they leave a piece of their art behind.
A few hundred feet up the road from Downtown Pulga is Whiskey Flats, a row of three cosy wooden cabins perched on the picturesque banks of the creek. Playfully named Deuce Cabin, King Cabin and Queen Cabin, the dwellings share an outdoor kitchen and outdoor showers, along with a bonfire pit where marshmallows can be toasted beneath the stars.
Inside, King Cabin features a wood-burning stove for when the mercury drops, as well as stunning wall cladding made from salvaged wood and corrugated metal sheeting. A beautiful four-poster bed with intricately carved columns offers a regal spot for visitors to lay their heads after a long day exploring the wilderness. Elsewhere in the town, forest cabanas tucked away in the trees provide a glamping experience that's a little closer to nature.
Up the hill lies the Pulga Schoolhouse, which has been transformed from its early days as Betsy's makeshift closet. Now a charming events venue complete with a stage, bar and kitchen, it can seat 100, with standing space for more than 150. Expansive floor-to-ceiling windows draw the surrounding woodlands inside, while a rustic wood-burner and vintage seating create a wonderfully eclectic space.
The venue's pièce de résistance is undoubtedly the bar and its incredible backdrop. The counter and the striking 3D wall installation, which combines redwood with organic shapes and bold orange hues, was designed and built by Betsy's amazing friend, San Francisco-based artist Jesse Wilson. The multifunctional mural isn't just a visual masterpiece either – clever shelving has been integrated for the bar and the panels offer acoustic diffusion for music performances.
One of Pulga's hidden gems is its private beach, located just across the canyon's train tracks. A slice of paradise along the Feather River, the shallow waters are perfect for a refreshing dip, while the long shoreline has plenty of space for lounging in the sun and soaking up breathtaking views of the glittering cove. However, the exquisite natural beauty here is balanced out by a reverence for its devastating power, as Betsy and the residents of Butte County are all too aware...
“I’ve been out here for seven years. I’ve been ground zero of three of the top four most destructive wildfires in California history," Betsy tells me. The Camp Fire, the Complex Fire and the Dixie Fire all started about a half-mile off her property. Betsy was away when the Camp Fire struck in November 2018, on her first vacation in five years. Perhaps it was a twist of fate that she wasn’t in residence: her own cabin, as well as two historic structures and 12 of the 64 cabanas she'd built perished in the flames, along with her beloved teardrop trailer and the town's main water system, but luckily not the natural spring intake.
Pictured here is a burnt-out gas station near Pulga after the Camp Fire, which was the deadliest wildfire in California to date. Officially, more than 18,800 structures were destroyed and 85 people died, but experts say the real death toll is much higher. The blaze was caused by powerlines near Pulga, owned by Pacific Gas and Electric. In the midst of all this, her father sadly passed away too. Less than two years later, the Complex Fire saw more than 187 lightning strikes hit Butte County: "I saw flames on the ridge twice. Then I wound up collapsing of exhaustion," says Betsy.
This is a photograph of workers from the Bureau of Land Management and the Forestry Service, who came out to Pulga after the Complex Fire. The wildfires are an open wound for the local community. On top of the psychological trauma, many are wrestling to secure money from insurance companies to help repair their homes and businesses. The physical aftermath is still visible too: “Everybody in my world up here barely made it out alive... four years later there’s still helicopters every day, there’s hazardous tree removal, hazardous debris removal,” Betsy says.
When Betsy's cabin burnt down, the only thing that survived was her ceramic Fifth Avenue Marina mug, a reminder of the Oakland artist’s community that sparked the rebirth of Pulga. Inside it was, rather prophetically, a page of flowers from one of her gardening books. Amid the wreckage, there was hope to be found: Betsy married her husband Adam in 2021, her biggest supporter. The wildfires also strengthened the tight-knit bonds within the local community, who continue to support each other through the tireless process of rebuilding their lives, and livelihoods.
Despite the devastation, the natural beauty of Pulga persists, and so does Betsy. In the wake of the fires, she worked long, arduous days clearing debris and fallen trees from the roads, and repairing what was lost, a process complicated by the absence of power and water. As when Betsy brought Pulga back to life the first time around, her community and friends rallied around her to help revive the town once more. The past few years may have been heartwrenching, but her love for this enchanting corner of the world is unwavering, and because of this, she's even more determined that history won't repeat itself.
Pictured here is an existing wood-fired hot tub in the town, but Betsy has ambitious plans to install lots of above-ground swimming pools as a cheaper alternative to the costly 2,500-gallon water tanks used to defend against encroaching flames – she even jokes about renaming the town Poolga. She’s also encircled the site in metal fencing, taken down every dead tree and ensured that all of the structures in the settlement are bolted down. “I made sure that this place is not going to burn down… I’m not going to do it again, I can’t," she vows.
A crowdfunding page for Pulga was sent up in the wake of the Camp Fire by Sarah Lacy, founder of ChairmanMe, a social media platform for working women. In fact, the San Francisco-based company, who'd previously held their yearly retreat at the town, chose to return to Pulga for the annual event almost a year after the Camp Fire. Before the fires, Pulga was booked out every weekend, and while parts of the former ghost town are still being revived, Betsy is hopeful that it will experience the same success again.
A unique backdrop for weddings, events and parties, Pulga is an especially popular spot for corporate retreats. With many of the distractions of modern life stripped away, high-flying business people, many from the nearby San Francisco Bay Area but some from as far away as Shanghai, are encouraged to reconnect with the natural world and their colleagues, away from the glare of computer screens. “They become better people and they form relationships and the company winds up thriving because of it," explains Betsy.
Pulga prides itself on being an inclusive oasis for all, regardless of profession, beliefs or political affiliation: “I’m friends with the far-right republican red necks as much as I am the far-left liberals,” says Betsy. When a group rents out the town, she offers an array of workshops and activities as part of their stay, from forest foraging, woodland crafts and stained-glass making to wild cocktail masterclasses, games nights and archery. While Betsy is a natural at taking care of Pulga's visitors, it's an operation that takes up an inordinate amount of energy.
For Betsy, the next stage is to carve out time to enjoy the rural idyll she’s created. While her friends and supportive husband are on hand to help, she’s currently a one-woman show when it comes to her business. She does everything from booking clients and hosting their visits to accounting, maintenance and even cleaning toilets. “I made it wildly successful and I did it all word of mouth… I am the janitor, the plumber, the house cleaner, and now the event planner. And I learnt how to do all of it from the support of the community of creative artists and friends who’ve stood by me through this and with help from my friends in the neighbouring towns.”
But now Betsy wants time to focus on her own interests too, including animal husbandry work, as well as making space to start a family in the future. But easing her workload and bringing in staff to help run Pulga would require collaborating with investors who believe in her vision, something she’s open to but unsure how to pursue. If you’d like to experience a slice of this remarkable mountain retreat for yourself, or perhaps you’d like to help invest in Pulga's future, you can contact Betsy through the form on her website.
Betsy Ann Cowley is a force of nature, the kind of person who dives headfirst into opportunities that cross her path. For anyone else, Pulga may have proved an insurmountable challenge. But a quiet belief in her own abilities, teamed with headstrong determination and the support of invaluable friends, led to the resurrection of a crumbling outpost, even when the wildfires endangered all she'd built. Nevertheless, Betsy still views herself as a custodian of the land: "I am an entrepreneur and a businesswoman and I do understand how this place operates. But I helped revive something that’s bigger than anyone."
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