Red Lodge, Montana

Red Lodge is an authentic Old West gateway to the Rocky Mountains. Colorful Victorian buildings fill a pretty little valley surrounded by sagebrush-covered rangeland that ends abruptly a few miles to the west at the awesome escarpment of the Beartooth Mountains. More than a century ago, coal mines fueled a period of prosperity. By the Depression, however, the mines began to close. Then, the breathtaking Beartooth Highway opened, linking Red Lodge with Yellowstone National Park, and paving the way to the era of tourism.

Today, the mines are all closed. The town’s heritage of hard-working, hard-drinking miners is especially well preserved in a legacy of Victorian structures on main street which sports numerous good restaurants, galleries and specialty shops featuring local arts and crafts, and one of the West’s outstanding concentrations of unspoiled saloons and legal gambling halls. A restored landmark hotel and several distinctive lodgings accommodate increasing numbers of both summer and winter visitors.

For more information, check with the local Chamber of Commerce.