2 Best Sights in Helena, Bozeman, and Southwest Montana, Montana

The living-history Nevada City Old Town down the road from Virginia City, preserves the town as it was at the turn of the 20th century, with restored buildings, thousands of artifacts from the gold rush era, and weekend demonstrations. Included in the collection is the Depuis House, from the PBS television series Frontier House. Saturdays and Sundays during the summer, the ghost town comes to life as actors dress up in period wear to engage with guests and give them a taste of life during the gold rush era.

Miners' houses and distinctive shops built in the 1870s line this carefully restored area of Old Helena along with restaurants and a visitor's center. Note the stone pillars and wooden stringers of the Morelli Bridge, spanning a walking trail that leads to the Mount Helena Trail System. You can visit an 1864 hand-hewn log pioneer cabin that now houses a museum of the gold rush days of the 1860s; this is Helena's oldest surviving home.