We settled into our campsite in Philipsburg knowing nothing more than it was a "cute town." This part of Montana is up against the Rockies and the seat of very prosperous mining history.
Philipsburg, Anaconda, and Butte are all towns on the National Register of Historic Places. They have all seen much better days and have tried to revive themselves on the coattails of their history.
This is the main street in Philipsburg. Almost every building has a placque designating it a Historical Landmark. The most famous shop is a candy store we heard about before we even got there. People were coming out of the store with their hands in large bags of gooey candy. We never went in!
There's been a lot of restoration on the buildings and most are ornately painted.
I was particularily impressed with the work done on the Kaiser House.
Montana mines a lot of gemstones. Montana sapphires are lighter in color than the ones I'm used to.
In shops like this one, people purchases a bag of stones guaranteed to have gemstones in it and then sifts through it to find the gems.
This is one customers sorted plate. I figured I didn't need another hobby polishing stones, so I didn't buy a bag of rocks.
We decided to continue our exploration so we drove to Anaconda. First we went through a mountain pass and then we drove around Georgetown Lake and Silver Lake before arriving in Anaconda.
Not much to do in Anaconda...
...then we discovered the smelter smoke stack. This town was not known for what was found in its hill. They had the smelter. It closed in the 1980's. All that is left today is the chimney - all 545 feet of it. It's the largest of its kind and you can see it from a long way away.
Anaconda is also the county seat of Granite County, hence, this lovely old county building.
It's full of computers today and a very busy place.
The rotunda is not a ornate as some we've seen, but it has that early 20th century charm.
We weren't finished exploring so we drove on to Butte.
This town has a large designated historic district going up the mountain. It's divided into "uptown" on the east and "the flats" on the west. Again, many of the buildings there are on the National Historic Register. This was where mining money lived.
They are still mining copper today.
A couple interesting buildings attesting to Butte's past: the old theater...
...and Metals Bank Building.
Inside the historic district also is the Copper King Mansion.
It's a B & B today and a museum with tours offered.
It was the home of Montana senator William Andrews Clark.
Construction began in 1884 while Montana was still a territory. Clark was a common miner who grew to one of the "hundred men who owned America."
This is the entry foyer with its beautiful woods, fireplace (right of the photo), fixture, stained glass, and hand carved wood detailing.
The dining room
I noticed the hinges and was shown the matching door hardware - all hand carved copper.
Copper King Mansion belonged to the father.
The son, Charles Clark, built the Chateau style home in 1898 and in 1901 he deeded it to his wife, Katherine, "with love and affection." You rock, Chuck!!!
It's an art museum today.
There are many large building in Butte. This is a court house.
We had a great time visiting the mining towns. It was a real step back in history.
We moved on to Bozeman to have a short visit with our Placitas neighbors Merle and Carl Johnson.
Here's the view from our campsite at the top of a hill.
We've been in Bozeman before and find it to be a very vibrant, active, and sophisicated town.
There was a sidewalk event in the downtown district so we walked with Finn. Bozeman has been named the 2nd most dog friendly town in the country. I was amazed at how many people asked if he is a Kerry Blue. I'm usually asked if he's a Schnauzer and I have to explain he isn't...unless I just don't feel like it and then I just say yes.
The cool eagle is in front of one of the stores. I like it a lot so I put it in the blog.
We've been finding wonderful murals all through this trip. This one is in downtown Bozeman.
We met Carl, Merle, and Carl's sister, Ellen at their lovely new home.
We can easily understand why they are so happy here.
They have a lovely condo on this street. They are like row houses so there's no one above them. And, the part Merle loves the most, they don't have to care for the grass or lock their doors.
We all had a wonderful dinner at the Montana Ale Works. We stumbled upon this place when we were here for the Yellowstone winter program It's in the old train station.
The Johnson's were very gracious, and it was fun to see them.
We took care of some shopping needs while in Bozeman.
We leave for Yellowstone next. We will stay in West Yellowstone - the only entrance to the park we have never been to. Ed has promised to slow down the pace a bit...
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