Mel Gould's Buryville (Closed)
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Mel Gould was born in 1930 and has lived at Buryville (or just on top of it) since 1955. A self-taught inventor, Mel has filled his property with odd assortment of metal sculptures and strange vehicles, many of which were featured in the pages of magazines such as Mechanix Illustrated in the 1960s. "Mr. Cranky," for example, turns a large carousel that can be seen from nearby Interstate 80, while "Wind Thing," another wind-powered sculpture, generates the electricity for the lights of Buryville.
Buryville is Mel's underground workshop, made of a school bus, camper, grain silo, and 55,000-gallon gas tank that Mel had buried on the property. It's down here that Mel does most of his work, and although he describes himself modestly as a "tinkerer" and "pack rat," he has had a long career as engineer and has worked with environmental artist Christo on three of his Land Art pieces.
Tours of the property and Buryville are free when Mel or one of his family members are around. Just make sure you sign the guest book before you leave.