The Pre-Gilded Age Comes Alive at Virginia City's Mackay Mansion

 Virginia City’s version of the Gilded Age (actually pre-Gilded Age) can be viewed at the historic Mackay Mansion. Built in 1860 by George Hearst, a mining millionaire who made his fortune by being one of the first successful prospectors to work the Comstock Lode after the initial discovery in 1859, the three-story, brick building was one of the community’s finest structures.

   Hearst, who went on to establish one of the world’s largest newspaper and magazine empires, originally constructed the impressive building to serve as a combination office-private residence for his Gould & Savage Silver Mining Company.

   After Hearst moved on to other endeavors, John Mackay acquired the mine as well as the home-office. Mackay was one of Virginia City’s so-called Silver Kings, a quartet of Irish-American investors who became extremely wealthy from investing in Comstock mines in the 1870s.

   Mackay and partner James Fair moved into the house following the Great Fire of 1875, which destroyed nearly all of Virginia City including Mackay’s primary residence.

   Fair soon relocated to other quarters but Mackay, who enjoyed Virginia City, lived in the house whenever he was in town (his wife, who didn’t care much for life in a mining community, spent much of her time living in Europe).

   Mackay, who earned an estimated $100 million from his mining properties in Virginia City, lived on and off in the house until the 1880s, when his mines began to play out. He eventually moved to England, where he pursued other business interests including laying the first transcontinental telegraph cable between Europe and America.

   The Victorian mansion had several owners over the next few decades and  has been fairly well maintained over the years. Even today, the home offers a remarkable glimpse into Virginia City’s rich and colorful past.

   Inside, the mansion still has elegant crystal and silver chandeliers, French tapestries, Belgian carpets and mirrors sparkling with diamond dust—all appropriate for the home of a Silver King.

   During one of the guided tours of the mansion, which are available throughout the year, visitors enter through the former mining office, which still has the original office vault—who knows how many ounces of silver and gold were once stored there—and displays of 19th century Comstock mining artifacts.

   From the office, the tour passes through a small entryway and heads into the elegant Grand Parlor. This substantial room is filled with original Victorian furnishings such as an overstuffed sofa, marble tables and rich velvet draperies.

   An ornate fireplace of English oak begs for a cozy fire, while a 19th century James Broadwood & Sons piano, imported from London, seems to be waiting for someone to sit and play.

   From the parlor, the tour heads up unique Italian hanging stairs to the former bedrooms (since the house is built on a hill, you actually entered on the second floor).

   The bedrooms are decorated in Victorian style, with Mackay’s mahogany desk, his marble-topped chest of drawers and simple but elegant bed. Adjacent is Fair’s former room, which contains elaborately carved marble and oak furnishings.

   Perhaps the most interesting upstairs room is the commode, which still offers a lead tub, encased in carved mahogany.

   The ground floor of the house contains the Silver Room, which is a dining area that contains a large silver chandelier as well as a massive carved English oak table and chairs (seating for at least a dozen people), an elegant fireplace and beautiful wooden trim.

   Beyond the Silver Room is the kitchen and pantry, which are still filled with Mackay’s fine china, which dates to the 1870s.

   In addition to the historic house visitors can wander the grounds of the mansion. Its lush, green gardens are popular for weddings.

   The Mackay Mansion is located at 129 South D Street in Virginia City. Guided tours of the fabulous home are offered throughout the year (Sunday and Saturday from 12 noon to 5 p.m. during the winter; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday/10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday during the summer). There is an admission charge. For more information, go to: https://www.therealmackaymansion.com/tours or call 775-847-0156.

Once-Famous Celebrities Who Have Found Their Final Resting Places in Nevada

Muhammad Ali Knocking Out Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Championship.

   As home to plenty of well-known entertainers and sports figures, it is no surprise that through the years Nevada has been the final resting place for a number of deceased celebrities.

   In fact, the web site, findagrave.com, lists some 79 “somewhat famous” individuals who have been laid to rest in the Silver State.

   The list ranges from easily recognizable names like actor Tony Curtis, who died in 2010 and is buried in Henderson’s Palm Memorial Park, to once-famous but now nearly forgotten folks such as notorious baseball pitcher Robert “Bo” Belinsky.

   The latter was a promising fire-baller, who threw a no-hit game his rookie year in 1962, but ultimately became more famous for his womanizing and drinking than for his pitching (his career record was 28-51 when he retired after only 8 years). Belinsky, who died in 2001, is interred in Davis Memorial Park in Las Vegas.

   Other deceased celebrities (many of whom have grown more obscure with the passage of time) that are buried in Nevada include:

   • Actress Reno Browne (born Josephine Ruth Clarke in Reno in 1921), who in the late 1940s was a successful western movie actress. Brown, who also performed under the name Reno Blair, was married for a time to cowboy actor Lash LaRue and appeared in 14 western films in the 1940s and 50s. She apparently broke into movies as an extra in several films shot in the Reno area, then moved to Hollywood and worked as a trick rider and stuntwoman. In the late 1940s, she was the star of a short-lived radio program, “Reno Rides the Range,” and, in the early 1950s, had her own comic book (it lasted 3 issues). She retired to Reno, where she died in 1991 and is buried.

   • Tennis star Ricardo “Pancho” Gonzales (1928-1995), who is also buried at Palm Memorial Park. Gonzales won consecutive U.S. Championships in 1947-48 and was one of the most dominant men’s tennis players during the 1950s and early 60s. For many years, he worked as a tennis coach at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

   • Actor and director Jules Irving (1924-1979), who directed one of the first major TV mini-series, “Rich Man, Poor Man,” is buried in the Masonic Memorial Gardens in Reno. Irving was co-founder and co-director of the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop and later artistic director of the Lincoln Center’s Repertory Theater and experimental forum.

   • Boxer Charles “Sonny” Liston (1932-1970), who was World Heavyweight Champion from 1962 to 1964, is interred at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas (planes taking off and landing at McCarran Airport fly overhead). Liston, who had a professional boxing record of 50-4, lost his crown to Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali).

   • Pop singer Guy Mitchell (1927-1999), whose real name was Albert Cernak), had 40 hit records in the 1950s, including million sellers like “My Heart Cries for You,” “The Roving Kind” and “Heartaches by the Number.” His career tapered off in the 1960s with the rise of rock-n-roll but he continued to perform around the world and in Las Vegas. Mitchell died of complications during surgery in 1999 and was cremated at the Palm Mortuary in downtown Las Vegas.

   • “Colonel” Tom Parker (1909-1997), Elvis’ controversial manager and promoter, is buried at Palm Memorial Park in Las Vegas. Parker moved to Las Vegas in the early 1970s, living for many years in a suite of rooms at the Las Vegas Hilton. In 1985, he moved into Country Club Towers and continued to work as an entertainment consultant for the Hilton until his death.

   • Comedian and actor Redd Foxx (1922-1991), whose real name was John Elroy Sanford, starred in the 1970s hit TV show, “Sanford and Son.” Foxx was also laid to rest at Palm Memorial in Las Vegas. In the 1950s and 60s, Foxx became a successful but controversial comedian, who tested the limits when it came to off-color content. From the 1970s to the 1990s, he appeared in Las Vegas showrooms as well as several TV programs and films and died while rehearsing for a new show.

   • Western performer Cuba Island Crutchfield (1891-1969), who toured around the world with Buffalo Bill Cody’s western shows in the early 20th century, is buried in Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City. Crutchfield was recognized as one of the world’s greatest trick ropers—his trademark routine was to spin a 100-foot lasso around the entire cast of the western show—and appeared alongside Annie Oakley, Harry Houdini and Will Rogers. The latter, in fact, was said to be a distant cousin. Crutchfield moved to Reno in 1927 and retired to a life of ranching.

 

Big Boots and Giant Sheep Help Highlight Community Arts Throughout Nevada

   Since 1999, when a Chicago businessman helped create the popular “Cows on Parade” public art project in the Windy City (which itself was based on an earlier public art effort in Zurich, Switzerland), dozens of cities across America have concocted similar public art installations involving various fiber glass animal statues.

   For example, Milwaukee had “Beasties” (whimsical four-legged creatures created by a local artist), while Racine, Wisconsin had bears, Macomb, Illinois had bulldogs, Atlanta had dolphins, Salt Lake City had bison and Seattle had pigs. Typically, the large statues are painted or decorated by local artists who are sponsored by local businesses.

   The craze has also inspired a number of Nevada communities to develop their own animals on parade public art projects, with the best-known ones being the “Counting Sheep” project sponsored by Reno’s Artown in 2005, and Elko’s “Centennial Boots” public art installation created for that community’s 100th anniversary in 2017.

   “Counting Sheep” involved 25 fiberglass bighorn sheep that were painted by Nevada-based artists and placed around Reno for a limited time. One of the statues, “Nevada Lambscape,” was painted by Lake Tahoe landscape artist Phyllis Shafer. The work, which remains on permanent display in the McKinley Arts & Culture Center in Reno, depicts the wide Nevada landscape across the body of the sheep with legs covered with sagebrush.

   Other sheep that were on display included artist Tim Guthrie’s “Dirty Harry Downwinder,” a bighorn sheep with an atomic mushroom cloud exploding from its back, Zoltan Janvary’s “False Idol,” with its gambling imagery serving as a warning for those who worship winning, and Darcie Park’s “Rodeo Ram,” a bighorn sheep hobby horse complete with a saddle and American flag blanket.

   Elko’s “Centennial Boots” project is ongoing, with new boots appearing periodically in the northeastern Nevada city (there are now about 50). The boots, in fact, are so popular that the city developed a “Boot Walk Map,” which pinpoints the locations of some 36 of the 110-pound, six-foot tall cowboy boots.

   Each of the shoes is made of polyurethane resin and decorated by a local artist. For example, one depicts a Central Pacific train steaming through the Ruby Mountains, while another in front of the Star Hotel is a tribute to the hotel’s rich Basque roots and history.

   The boots can be found in front of the Elko Public Library, the Great Basin College, various government offices, and dozens of businesses. Since each tells a part of the Elko story, they serve as a kind of community-wide scavenger hunt for those who seek them out.

   Among the highlights are artist Inga Ojala’s boot displaying a trout-filled stream rushing down the Rubies, flanked by a mountain goat and a bighorn sheep (in front of the LP Insurance Building) and a boot painted with a guitar and banjo, created by Tuscarora artist Sidne Teske with a realistic spur crafted by metal sculptor Susan Church (in front of the Western Folklife Center).

   One of the most unique is a boot painted by Elko architect Catherine Wines and her sister-in-law, Heather, who created “Starry Elko Night,” a tribute to Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.” In Wines’ version, the Elko skyline has replaced Saint-Remy-de-Provence, but the original’s psychedelic overtones remain.

   For more information about Elko’s Centennial Boots go to: https://everythingelko.com/centennial-boots/. For information about Reno’s “Counting Sheep” project, check out the Reno News and Review’s 2005 story about it at: https://renonr.com/2005/07/07/counting-rams/.