Abandoned Towns
Virginia City seen from the hill above, houses and trees spread across a green valley with grassy hills beyond

Gold mining town

Virginia City

The gold town of 1863 that became Montana's territorial capital, home of the vigilantes and Boot Hill. About 200 people still live here, and in summer the state opens its historic buildings along Wallace Street to visitors.

45°17′46″N 111°56′13″W · ≈5,910 ft

Photo: Original uploader was SchmuckyTheCat at en.wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Living town, summer season

Virginia City is a living town and the Madison County seat; homes are private. The state-owned historic buildings, shops and shows run in summer: the Montana Heritage Commission gives its season as Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, and in 2026 the Alder Gulch Shortline train ran May 23 to September 7. A visitor's photo of May 29, 2026 shows Wallace Street open to traffic. Check virginiacitymt.com for next season's dates.

Overview

The capital of Alder Gulch

Wallace Street and its boardwalk, May 2026
Wallace Street and its boardwalk, May 2026 · Photo: Jason Woodhead, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Virginia City lies in Alder Gulch, about 14 miles west of Ennis over the hills. Bill Fairweather and Henry Edgar found gold on the creek on May 26, 1863, and within a year about 10,000 people were working the gulch. Virginia City was the biggest of the camps strung along it. It printed Montana's first newspaper, and from 1865 to 1875 it was the territorial capital.

It was also the home of the Montana Vigilantes. In the winter of 1863 and 1864 a vigilance committee hanged up to 15 men it called road agents, five of them together in town on January 14, 1864. Those five lie on Boot Hill above the town. Some writers have since questioned whether the road agents were ever an organized gang.

The placers played out quickly. By the early 1870s only a few hundred people were left, and the capital went to Helena in 1875. Virginia City never emptied, though. It stayed the county seat, and in the 1940s Charles and Sue Bovey began buying and restoring its old buildings. The state bought their properties in 1997, and the Montana Heritage Commission now runs them. The town counted 219 people in 2020. That mix of a living town and a preserved one is why it turns up on ghost town lists: one directory calls it "semi-ghost."

Video

A spring walk before the season opens

A couple on a break from Yellowstone walk the town on a sunny spring day before the summer season opens: the boardwalks and old storefronts of the historic district, seen through their doors and windows, the railroad depot and tracks, a pond lined with cabins, the opera house and the Fairweather Inn, a saloon whose manager lets them look inside before opening time, a bookshop and the courthouse. Filmed before the season opened, so most of the historic buildings are closed. A sign they pass gives the opening as about May 21.

Play “Virginia City, MT.” from YouTube
“Virginia City, MT.”, by BCoutdoors59 on YouTube. The player loads from YouTube when you press play.

Timeline

Gold, vigilantes and a territorial capital

Virginia City and its mine dumps from Alder Gulch, late 1890s
Virginia City and its mine dumps from Alder Gulch, late 1890s · Photo: Charles Roscoe Savage, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  1. Bill Fairweather and Henry Edgar find gold near Alder Creek. Within a year about 10,000 people are living in the camps along Alder Gulch, by Legends of America's count.
  2. The township is formed under the name Verina, soon Virginia City.
  3. The Vigilance Committee of Alder Gulch hangs up to 15 men accused as road agents, Sheriff Henry Plummer among them. On January 14, 1864, five are hanged together in town and buried on Boot Hill: Haze Lyons, Boone Helm, Jack Gallagher, Frank Parish and "Clubfoot" George Lane.
  4. Thomas Dimsdale starts the Montana Post, the territory's first newspaper.
  5. Virginia City is capital of Montana Territory, from February 7, 1865, until the capital moves to Helena on April 19, 1875.
  6. About $30 million in gold has come out of the gulch in the first three years. The easy placers are worked out and the population falls to a few hundred.
  7. The census counts 675 people, the highest figure in Wikipedia's table.
  8. Gold dredges work Alder Gulch and recover about $7 million more.
  9. Charles and Sue Bovey first visit and begin buying and restoring buildings. Their Daylight Village opens in 1946.
  10. The Virginia City Historic District becomes a National Historic Landmark (Wikipedia also gives 1962). It is listed on the National Register in 1976.
  11. The Montana Legislature votes to buy the Bovey properties. The state now owns about half of Virginia City's historic buildings, run by the Montana Heritage Commission.
  12. The census counts 219 residents. Virginia City is still the seat of Madison County.
  13. The state names its summer concessionaires in March, the Alder Gulch Shortline runs May 23 to September 7, and the University of Montana Western's theatre program runs the summer season at the Opera House.

What's there

Wallace Street and Boot Hill

The Opera House on Wallace Street, October 2013
The Opera House on Wallace Street, October 2013 · Photo: Murray Foubister, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Grave markers of Frank Parish, Jack Gallagher and Boone Helm on Boot Hill, "hanged Jan. 14th 1864"
Grave markers of Frank Parish, Jack Gallagher and Boone Helm on Boot Hill, "hanged Jan. 14th 1864" · Photo: Basenjik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The historic district holds nearly 300 structures, almost half of them built before 1900, and the state owns about half of the old buildings. Most of what a visitor sees lines Wallace Street, the highway through town, behind a wooden boardwalk. Among the buildings are the Gilbert Brewery, where the Brewery Follies play, the Opera House, the Fairweather Inn, the Bale of Hay Saloon and the Thomas Francis Meagher house. In 2026 the state let its buildings to a dozen and more concessionaires, from saloons and galleries to the City Bakery and the Wells Fargo Bar & Grill, and the University of Montana Western's theatre program ran the Opera House season.

Boot Hill sits on the slope above town, near the main cemetery, with wooden markers for the five men hanged in January 1864. Homes in town are private; the Heritage Commission's buildings, the shops and the public streets are where to look.

The historic maps show how little the town's footprint has changed. The 1888 Three Forks sheet marks Virginia City as a small grid at the head of Alder Gulch, with Nevada City, Adobe and Junction down the gulch. The 1947 Bozeman sheet puts it on highway 34. The 1950 Virginia City sheet draws the streets in detail, with Boot Hill and the cemetery just north of town and the Prospect, Alameda and Cornucopia mines in the hills to the south.

  • About 300 historic structures, almost half pre-1900
  • Wallace Street boardwalk
  • Opera House
  • Gilbert Brewery (Brewery Follies)
  • Fairweather Inn
  • Thomas Francis Meagher house
  • Methodist church on West Idaho Street
  • Boot Hill
USGS topographic map of Virginia City's street grid along MT 287 in Alder Gulch
USGS The National Map, topo. The town's streets run along MT 287 at center, with Alder Gulch below them.
Aerial view of Virginia City: buildings and trees along the highway in a grassy valley
Aerial imagery, same area. Roofs line the highway through town, with open grassland on the hills around.

Historic maps

Virginia City on USGS maps, 1888–1950

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Virginia City, 1888
Three Forks sheet, 1888, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Day trip

Plan a day trip to Virginia City from Ennis

Take it with you

Day trip itinerary

The essentials, the sample day with boxes to tick, what to photograph and the coordinates, on two printable pages. Handy where there's no signal.

Download the PDF (550 KB)

Virginia City is a summer day out from Ennis, about half an hour over the hills on MT 287. Walk Wallace Street and Boot Hill in the morning, ride the Alder Gulch Shortline to Nevada City and back after lunch, and stay for a show if one is on. The state-run season is Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day; in late October 2026 it was over for the year, so confirm next summer's dates before you go.

A sample day

  1. Leave Ennis on MT 287 over the hills; about half an hour.
  2. Walk Wallace Street's boardwalk and the side streets, then climb to Boot Hill.
  3. Lunch on Wallace Street.
  4. Ride the train from the Depot to Nevada City and back.
  5. Stay for the Opera House or the Brewery Follies if they're playing.

Coming from Bozeman? It's about 1 hour 41 minutes by MT 84 and US 287.

What to photograph and film

  • Wallace Street. The boardwalk and false fronts, best from across the highway.
  • Boot Hill. The wooden grave markers, with the town below.
  • The Opera House. Its white balcony and columns on Wallace Street.
  • The train. Catch it leaving the Depot, or film the gulch from the car.

Map & directions

Getting there

Ennis is the nearest larger town, about half an hour east over the hills on MT 287. From Bozeman, the route runs west on US 191 and MT 84, south on US 287 to Ennis, then on MT 287 to Virginia City, where the highway becomes Wallace Street.

USGS topographic map between Ennis and Virginia City with the route on MT 287 drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Ennis14.5 miabout 27 min
  1. Turn left on West Main Street, then sharp left onto US 287.0.2 mi
  2. Continue straight on East Main Street (MT 287).0.2 mi
  3. Continue on MT 287 (Bauer Lane) over the hills to Virginia City.13.0 mi
  4. Follow MT 287 into town as Wallace Street.0.7 mi
  5. Turn right on Spencer Street, then right again.0.3 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • The routes are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.
  • The state's buildings, the train and the shows are summer attractions. Outside Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, expect most of them closed.
  • The Alder Gulch Shortline runs 1.5 miles down the gulch to Nevada City in summer; tickets are sold in person at the Virginia City Depot, 413 West Wallace Street.

Photos

Virginia City in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Virginia City?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Virginia City

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Montana index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Virginia City, Montana", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation, the May 26, 1863 discovery and June 16 township, the vigilantes and Boot Hill, the Montana Post, capital dates, census figures (675 in 1890, 219 in 2020), county seat, the Boveys, the landmark dates and nearly 300 structures.
  2. Legends of America, "Virginia City, Montana", updated November 2025: 10,000 people within a year, $30 million and $7 million in gold, the early-1870s decline, the Boveys from 1944, Daylight Village, the 1997 purchase and state ownership, 150 and 300 residents, the 1976 National Register listing, the Opera House and Brewery Follies.
  3. ghosttowns.com, "Virginia City": county, road, climate, "semi-ghost," the January 14, 1864 hangings and doubts about an organized gang.
  4. Montana Heritage Commission, "Plan Your Visit", read October 29, 2026: season and hours, the Depot and Bovey Visitor Center, restrooms, phone.
  5. Montana Heritage Commission, "Train Rides and Schedule", read October 29, 2026: the 2026 train season, departures, fares and tickets.
  6. Montana Department of Commerce, "2026 Concessionaires in Virginia City and Nevada City", March 19, 2026: the concessionaires and the Opera House season.
  7. Photo of Wallace Street by Jason Woodhead, taken May 29, 2026 (Wikimedia Commons, credited below): the street open and the boardwalk in use.
  8. Other photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.
  9. BCoutdoors59, "Virginia City, MT.", YouTube, posted May 2, 2026: a walk through the historic district before the 2026 season opened (the video on this page); checked against its captions and storyboard frames.

Photo and map credits