This morning, you’ll be on your way to Danville. Once considered “the grandest house in Danville,” Sutherlin Mansion was built by William Sutherlin in 1856 as a city home that allowed him to oversee the second largest tobacco factory in Virginia. That structure still stands at the corner of Lynn and Loyal Streets.

After resigning as Mayor of Danville, Sutherlin served as Confederate Quartermaster for Danville and worked diligently to ensure that supplies reached the front lines on a regular basis. He was such a close friend of CSA President Jefferson Davis that the Mansion served as the “Last Capital of the Confederacy” when Davis made his way from Richmond to points farther south. The government remained in Danville until receiving news of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox in April 10, at which time the last cabinet meeting occurred. Davis, however, did not hold the last war council until May 2, 1865 in Upstate South Carolina. Now home to the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, the house has been restored to appear as it did when Jefferson Davis and his family were in residence. Along with tours of the historic house, the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History offers a wide variety of exhibitions, classes, workshops, camps and educational programs.

The Civil War Driving Tour of Danville begins at the Sutherlin Mansion. Fourteen locations point out the significant role the city played in the final days of the Confederate States of America. It was here that President Jefferson Davis fled after the fall of Richmond to Union forces. Danville served as the seat of government from April 3-10, 1865, when word reached the community that General Lee had surrendered at Appomattox. Davis took up residence in the home of his friend William Sutherlin.

There are no less than four cemeteries with Civil War history in Danville; Grove Street Cemetery, United States National Cemetery, Freedman’s Cemetery and Green Hill Cemetery. Three of the cemeteries were established on acreage once a part of the farm owned by Dr. Nathaniel Green, one of Danville’s early physicians. His 18th century farmhouse was moved from there to Jefferson Street.

Grove Street Cemetery, where the oldest marked graves date from 1833, holds a number of Confederate veterans, including Col. Joseph Robert Cabell and Benjamin Edward Cabell, sons of Gen. B.W.S. Cabell, a veteran of the War of 1812. Another son, William Lewis Cabell, distinguished himself as the only Danville resident to achieve the rank of General in the Confederacy. Also buried here is the infant daughter of Gen. and Mrs. John Hunt Morgan, "The Thunderbolt of the Confederacy," who spent time in Danville.
Other structures with interesting Civil War history include 703 Wilson Street, the last executive offices of the Confederacy, 300 Lynn Street, also called Civil War Prison No. 6 (originally one of William Sutherlin’s tobacco factories) and Monument Hill, once occupied as one of more than 20 buildings that served as a Confederate Hospital in the region.

Military buffs will enjoy being surrounded by over 15,000 international tank and cavalry artifacts dating from 1509 to the present at the American Armoured Foundation Tank Museum, likely the most extensive collection of international artifacts of this type in the world. Over 115 tank and artillery pieces, 150 machine guns, rifles, rocket launchers, hundreds of uniforms, banners and flags, small arms, hats and helmets, tank and artillery optical instruments and toys are on hand. Exhibits include the Treat ‘Em Rough WWI exhibit, Seek, Strike and Destroy-Tank Destroyers, Women in Uniform and Through the Eye of the Camera.

Choice of Accommodations for night two:

Best Western Windsor Inn and Suites: Stay at this newly constructed property with complimentary breakfast, wireless internet and all the other customary amenities you expect from Best Western.
Lawson Overby Inn: Step back to a more genteel time in a Victorian mansion located on the prime corner of Millionaires Row now restored with wireless internet, an in-ground pool and more.