Virginia City Mansion

On a gently sloping plateau overlooking Alder Gulch, J. S. Rockfellow built the fanciest, most modern home yet constructed in Montana Territory. It was completed in time for his wedding, an affair attended by more than 150 guests in January of 1867. James Knox Polk Miller, who clerked for Rockfellow’s grocery business, described the wedding which took place at the home of W. Y. Lovell in Virginia City. Miller observed that the room was very small, the bride very little, and the ceremony very short. Carriages then conveyed the guests in their silks and finery to the mansion on the hill. The house, described in the Montana Post, had seven well-warmed, well-lit, and well-ventilated rooms, a luxury for sure at that time. Designed with an eye to convenience and beauty, the wall paper and furnishings were in the best of taste. The parlor was furnished in walnut, the dining room in oak, and the bed chambers in rosewood. There were frescoed ceilings and mountain scenery in water colors painted on the walls that, according to the reporter, spread through the house like “oriental pearls of random string.” There was a system of delightfully pure spring water piped directly into the house—the first running water in Montana. The same water source fed a beautiful fountain in the yard. The house, with its tidy outbuildings perched upon the hill, appeared to locals as a grand estate like no other. Unfortunately, within a year, Rockfellow died and the house on the hill fell into other hands. It still stands in Virginia City above Cover Street, an unoccupied eerie relic reminiscent of a tragic past.

Thanksgiving past and present

The first official observance of Thanksgiving after the creation of Montana Territory came in 1865. Although President Lincoln had established the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day, following Lincoln’s assassination, President Johnson chose December 7^th as the day of official observance. Residents of the mining camps paused in their relentless search for golden treasure and gave thanks for their good luck and for the end of the Civil War. In Virginia City, businesses closed. There were private celebrations and culinary preparations in many homes and restaurants. The Montana Post reported that sleighs were gliding merrily around town all day, men hobnobbed at the bars, and there was a singing party in the governor’s office. But in many a lonely cabin and isolated homestead, Thanksgiving was a time for  memories of other days, loved ones far away, and  serious reflection. The next year, 1866, at Last Chance, celebrations were more community oriented.  Young ladies put on their pretties and attended the Firemen’s Ball on Thanksgiving Eve at the Young America Hall. Markets were well supplied for Thanksgiving Day feasts. Shoppers could choose elk, deer, bear, sage hens, grouse and pheasant. There was no mention of turkeys, however, at Thanksgiving tables on that particular holiday. In Virginia City, the day was unremarkable. There were no church services, no suspension of labor, and no formal public thanks. The Montana Post noted, “When the population of Montana becomes stable, another order will prevail, and Thanksgiving will be greeted with more ceremony.” But in private, families gathered at their tables as earnestly and faithfully as if they lived in the States.

Some things haven't changed, have they? Are you planning any new Thanksgiving traditions this year? I am. I'm cooking a goose in addition to the usual turkey.