D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • S P R I N G 2 0 1 8
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doned… and I thought…
'Hmmmmm."
He bought the store and
spent three years turning
the abandoned mercantile
into an antique shop. It
took another decade to re-
store the dilapidated rooms
upstairs, where railroad
workers had once slept.
Today those guest rooms
are exquisitely restored,
each named for someone
who once called Virgelle
home, like the Blanken-
baker room.
At the same time, the
busy entrepreneur was
breathing life into a collec-
tion of abandoned home-
steader cabins. And Don didn't have to go far to get started. "ere
was a bunkhouse on the family farm that was actually a homestead
cabin," says Don. "I fixed it up and moved it down here... and then
one thing lead to another."
Today the Virgelle Merc offers six meticulously restored cabins
that Don recovered from the surrounding Montana countryside.
He also converted the old Virgelle ice house, that once stored
blocks of Missouri River ice, into state of the art bathroom facilities
for the restored cabins. And each cabin is named after the family
that built them.
Along with the general
store, Don has restored
the bank to house his
many antiques. Together
with the homesteader
cabins, Virgelle is a
destination for those look-
ing for a unique, historic
overnight experience, as
well as attracting antique
hunters from all over the
country. (Go to www.
virgellemontana.com)
In the process, his
impressive achievement
has saved a piece of our
history, given us a taste of
the past, while creating
cherished, new memories
for those fortunate enough
to visit today.
It all begins with turning off that beaten path, and discovering
the quiet gems tucked away on the back roads of Montana—like
that short but profound ferry ride that takes you across the Mis-
souri to Virgelle. A ride on any of those three river ferries forces
you to slow down, get out of the car and experience the quiet
beauty of Montana, simple pleasures we so often miss, as we speed
along in our busy lives.
Visitors to Virgelle Montana can spend the night in a restored sheep herder's wagon,
or a historic homestead cabin.
