Possum Trot

Calvin and Ruby Black bought this ground near Calico in 1953 and named it with a southern word for a shortcut. Calvin carved eighty-six near life-size dolls, Ruby sewed their dresses from old clothes, and from 1954 they raised a rock shop, wind-driven figures and a Bird Cage Theater where the dolls sang in Calvin's falsetto off tape. He died in 1972, Ruby in 1980, and the place was broken up and sold. Some dolls went to the Smithsonian. Nothing stands here now, and nothing cast marks the site.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Calico Ghost Town — 2.1 mi
  An 1881 silver boomtown in the calico-colored hills, saved and rebuilt by the founder of Knott's Berry Farm.
• Barstow — 8.0 mi
  The Mojave's rail-and-road hinge, where the Santa Fe yards and Route 66 meet at the Casa del Desierto Harvey House.

More markers nearby

• Town of Calico — 2.0 mi
• Harvey House — 8.0 mi
• Camp Cady (on the Mojave Road) — 16 mi
• The Mojave Road — 25 mi