Ennis, MT

It was a short drive to Ennis from Deer Lodge so we left a little bit later - 9:30 AM - and had a very nice drive through some pretty country in SW Montana. It started out with low clouds and light rain:

 

 As we traveled farther south, it cleared a little bit to reveal some beautiful countryside:

It was before noon when we arrived in Ennis:

 

 

This is a small (population about 900) western town that sits in the Madison Valley of SW Montana. As I had mentioned previously, we have been getting property information from a real estate agent in town for about a year now and wanted to see the area first hand.

We set up our very nice site in the Ennis RV Park:

 and headed out to look at the area.

We stopped in town and walked the quaint Main street, stopped into the real estate office where the agent we have corresponded with was located but he was out showing properties. We got lots of information on some areas and we visited those while taking a short trip to Virginia City and Nevada City which were only a few miles away. We were pleasantly surprised to see these two small, gold mining towns, and to discover the interesting history of each. Virginia City was the original capital of Montana and still maintained it's old, western flavor:

 

The real surprise was discovering the history of the adjoining town, Nevada City:

The story behind the trial and hanging of George Ives in 1863 was especially fascinating. The town had been preserved and the home of Dr Don Byam, who presided as judge during that trial, was still standing:

The home was the site of the first meetings of the Vigilantes which were formed following this trial and hanging.

There were many buildings remaining - too many to show here - but below is a sample along with a couple of the old railroad cars still on site:

Our plan to arrive early and to discover the town and it's history and beauty was a good one. We really like this area and the proximity to the National Parks - Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Yellowstone is a 70 mile trip from here which is our destination for today. Rain is forecast, but we hope to get an early view of Yellowstone as it breaks out in its Spring beauty. Our stay for the next two nights is in West Yellowstone, at the Hideaway RV Park...