Virginia City & Nevada City, Montana

We love old towns, we visit them every chance we get. Some friends of ours visited Virginia City & Nevada City, Montana and just loved it. So it’s always been on the list of must see places. When I mapped our route from Jackson Hole to Kalispell, I realized we would be going through Ennis, MT which is 14 miles from Virginia City.

We pulled into Ennis Monday afternoon and snagged the last spot at the Ennis RV Ranch. Lucky too, because it’s a nice place and we were able to do laundry, and all that stuff.

Monday evening we drove to Virginia City & Nevada City and I was able to get some late evening photos.

This was one of those perfectly timed photos. We were looking at some of the old steam engine trains, and the sun was casting the best shadows from these rivets.

None of the old buildings were open, so we went back Tuesday so we could look around better. This place is amazing.

People still live in these towns, about 100 we were told, so they are not ghost towns. The state owns the property and it’s basically one big historical site. Some of the existing buildings are original, but a lot have been relocated from other parts of Montana to preserve them. We were amazed at all the stuff that was in some of the buildings. Old original clothing, shoes, toys, books, furniture. Everything really that would have been in a gold mining town in the mid to late 1800’s.

There is an old hotel where you can rent a room to stay, or there are old cabins you can rent too. And yes, old, the real deal.

There is a museum in Nevada City that was fantastic. When you walk in the room is filled with old calliopes, the kind they had on the old merry-go-rounds.

Then outside, there is building, after building. Most of them have been relocated, but they are incredible. And again, the amount of stuff is what is so amazing.

Kind of a small window on the jail.

This was great. So many of the old doorknobs were so ornate. This was the first doorknob we had ever seen with two key holes.

Too old to drive.

I’m so glad we stopped, and stayed here. Ennis is a small, but cute little town. They are all about the fishing in the Madison river, and of course the old towns. It was well worth taking the time to spend a couple of nights. I am so very glad that people took the time, and money involved with saving these old buildings, and the contents in them. History needs to be preserved for everyone to enjoy.