US entrepreneur buys abandoned village in Spain, hoping to turn it into a tourist magnet where others have failed

Treading (very carefully) inside the abandoned buildings of Salto de Castro creates a feeling somewhere between fear and wonderment. It is hard to imagine children crossing the thresholds of these now-deserted homes. Or running around in “paradise,” as defined by Ángel Encinas, who spent a few of his early years there. The passage of time and vandalism have taken their toll on this idyllic spot that marks the border between Spain and Portugal, where the Ribera brook and the Douro river meet.

The truth is that there are no more children, no more voices. No life. The only sound is made by the bees and the birds. But perhaps all this will change, and other children, as Encinas once did, will bring some joy back to these walls. This is the goal of Jason Lee Beckwith, an American entrepreneur from California who has bought the village for $310,000 and intends to turn it into a tourist resort.

In a conversation with EL PAÍS, Lee says that, after his third heart attack, he decided to quit his job at a printing company (where he had worked all his life) to open up a guesthouse. Five years later he sold the business and took a sabbatical year. Later, he and his wife decided to open up another guesthouse and it was then that he found “paradise” (he uses that term) in Zamora. He has bought an apartment in the provincial capital and by the end of 2025 he hopes to live full-time on the banks of the Douro. “I’m not bringing California to Zamora, I’m leaving it behind, and my life will be in Spain,” he stresses.

Salto de Castro, as explained in the document El archivo histórico de Iberdrola y la industria eléctrica en España (Iberdrola’s historical archive and the electricity industry in Spain), was originally built by Iberduero (now the energy giant Iberdrola) in 1946. The location is included on the Red List maintained by a heritage conservancy group called Hispania Nostra, which explains that Salto de Castro was created “with the purpose of providing housing and services to the families of the employees who worked on the construction of the Castro Dam.” After the last remaining hydroelectric power station workers were transferred out in 1989, along with the Civil Guard officers in charge of overseeing security near the dam, the place was abandoned.

Before being bought by Lee, Salto de Castro had already passed through other private investors with similar projects in mind. In the early 2000s, as explained on the real estate website Idealista where the property was listed, a family bought it from Iberdrola. They also wanted to turn it into a space for tourism, but “their plans were cut short by the 2008 crisis.”

The listing explains that the village contains homes, of which five are stand-alone units. There is also a bar, a church, a school with several classrooms, a guesthouse where as many as 14 rooms are approved for building, a laundry room, a former Civil Guard barracks, a swimming pool, and sports facilities.

The fact is, these days it is hard to tell one type of infrastructure from another. Human “savagery,” an expression used by Ángel Encinas (who is the son of a Civil Guard officer who was stationed in Salto de Castro), has compounded the natural deterioration resulting from the passage of time. Encinas, who is now a member of the local environmental group Ecologistas Zamora, remembers that this was his first school ever. He is still hopeful for its recovery, since “it is very well built, with very resistant materials.”

The former owners had figured it would take $2 million to restore the village. Lee thinks the amount will be higher, somewhere between $4 and $7 million, although he says that he will have a much more detailed budget after the summer.

What the new owner has in mind is a large vacation complex (hotel/hostel) and long-term rentals for those who wish to live there full-time. Inside the church, apart from religious services, he intends to organize special events such as weddings and concerts. He hopes to have the first phase operational within two years. This will consist of the main building, which will house the first group of accommodations, as well as a multi-level restaurant, a space for vendors, and the church. It will also include a welcome center, the pool/recreation area, and the barbecue and picnic area.

Lee says that the Salto de Castro resort he envisions “will be a place that everyone can enjoy, regardless of their budget.” And it will not be closed off to local residents: “I will make it possible for local people to bring their families to swim in the pool and have a picnic. Everyone will be welcome in my village,” he underscores.

There are two key elements for the future of the project: financial and environmental. Regarding the former, the owner says he is looking for investors all over the world and will apply for subsidies. “Both the Spanish government and the European Union are committed to helping and motivating people to repopulate deserted parts of Spain,” he says in a kind of wake-up call to the administrations.

In the heart of Arribes del Duero natural park

Salto de Castro is located inside the Arribes del Duero natural park, a natural environment protected by Unesco. The new owner knows that he will have to overcome several hurdles in order to move forward with his vision. Sergio López, the mayor of Fonfría (the larger municipality to which Salto de Castro belongs administratively), says that there has been no formal request yet, although he has met with a group of architects from Madrid with whom he discussed licenses, infrastructure, and other related issues.

The mayor says he is welcoming the project with “great expectation, excitement and open arms,” but that he is also aware that it won’t be easy and that previous attempts have come to nothing. Yet López points out that “the site is awesome” and that the option of turning it into a tourist magnet is “one of the most viable ones.”

Encinas also welcomes it, as long as it is used for “slow, sustainable tourism and, of course, within the limitations imposed by the fact that it is inside a natural park.”

But the regional environmental group Ecologists in Action Castilla y León does not see it that way. Its members note that this area is part of the Natura 2000 conservation network and that “the creation of a tourist complex would be contrary to the conservation objectives of the site.” This group feels that tourism, “as the only activity, is not the solution to revitalize rural areas: it will not create social cohesion, nor integration, nor will it create a fixed population.”

In the opinion of this group, “it would be necessary to invest in the population of the urban centers that already exist, rather than in creating redoubts destined to a tourism that will generate problems, while the bulk of the economic benefits basically go to their owners.” Asked about acceptable alternatives to halt the degradation of Salto de Castro, the answer is that it should be publicly owned and managed, to be used as a tourist destination but without the possibility of overnight stays. And “the most logical” entity to take charge of it would be “the municipality of Fonfría.”

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