It was raining when I visited Virginia City, a city that was once a colorful pioneer mining camp and dramatic tales of the early days in this vicinity are legion. Now, it is a remarkably well preserved as an old west Victorian gold mining town.
Historically, when the gold ran out, there was still enough left so that homes and businesses were occupied, but there was not enough wealth to remodel the buildings. So it froze, and now represents the whole Victorian era.