Old West Towns: Virginia City & Nevada City, Montana

Virginia City is a living ghost town frozen in time.

VIRGINIA CITY, MONTANA

The birthplace of Montana and the cradle of much national history, Virginia City is an astoundingly well preserved old west town about 80 miles northwest of the West Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Virginia City is a living ghost town frozen in time.

HISTORY AND GOLD

Virginia City sits high in the Rocky Mountains in a bowl along Alder Gulch, where gold was first discovered in 1863 during the Civil War. In less than 12 months the town grew to over 10,000, and became the Territorial Capital in 1865.

Gold created Virginia City and controlled its history. The city was strategic during the Civil War, for it was producing enough gold to win the war for whoever could capture it.

Originally named 'Varina' after the wife of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, Virginia City was in a vulnerable position. Emigrants flooded into Idaho and Montana from all over the world, but chiefly from the South which was disrupted by the bloody war.

Gold created Virginia City and controlled its history.

President Lincoln, however, made sure that emigrants from the North were brought to Virginia City to protect the steady flow of gold into Union coffers. The new "greenbacks" issued by the Union government were therefore regarded both abroad and in the United States as of good and genuine value. This guaranteed that manufacturers could build their war industries and thereby defeat the South. By the end of the Civil War the greenbacks had lost some of their value, but Confederate money was worthless.

The economies of the North and South were the deciding factors in the victory for the North. And Virginia City's gold played a winning part in the Civil War.

Virginia City's gold played a winning part in the Civil War.

VIRGINIA CITY – AN HISTORIC TREASURE

The lack of development and the interest of preservation-minded individuals like Charles and Sue Bovey have ensured that the city today remains an historic treasure.

The Boveys traveled the country, collecting historical artifacts, buying buildings and reconstructing areas for preservation. At Virginia City and nearby Nevada City, they assembled arguably the largest collection of historical American West materials outside the Smithsonian.

In 1997 the Montana Legislature purchased these properties, and under the leadership of the Montana Historical Society, Virginia City and Nevada City began a new future.

The largest collection of historical American West materials outside the Smithsonian!

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Heritage Days & Victorian Ball
This is a celebration of the Victorian era held in August, and includes a Grand Ball where guests attend in period costume.

Opera House
The venue for the Virginia City Players' rollicking vaudeville variety productions. There is also the oldest continuously operating summer stock theater west of the Mississippi.

Brewery Follies
Montana's first brewery, the H. S. Gilbert Brewery, features a performance of the Brewery Follies Players. A constant sell out, it is entertainment in the Victorian style but with a current punch.

Museums, Shops, Accommodations
Stay in Virginia City without leaving the atmosphere of the 1860s. Eat, drink and sleep in Victorian restaurants, saloons and hotels, and listen to old time music machines and organs.

Alder Gulch Short Line
Take the train to nearby Nevada City on an authentic narrow-gauge railroad. Travel between the two mining camps on the Alder Gulch Short Line Railroad. At the Nevada City end of the line, visit the Alder Gulch Short Line Steam Railroad Museum with its collection of equipment and stock from the railroading gold rush era.

Virginia City - cultural tourism at its best!