Backyard Traveler has a story today about the life of Old Virginny, the crotchety miner for whom Virginia City is named. He’s one of those figures that has become so large in the 150 years since his death that it’s hard to sort the myth from the facts, and know how much we know about him was true. We don’t even know his real name; it was either James Fennimore or James Finney. Guy Rocha has tried to detangle some of the myth surrounding Old Virginny, but even he has trouble with it.
His headstone in the Dayton Cemetery was vandalized last January, but it was quickly patched up.
