Today after breakfast you’ll be off to explore Victorian Danville. Danville’s downtown commercial district developed along Main Street, driven by the tobacco manufacturers who created the bustling market. The homes on Millionaires Row are considered by some to be the finest collection of Victorian and Edwardian residential architecture in Virginia. In addition to lining Main Street, they branch out on each side of the commercial district onto the side streets. The Tobacco Warehouse and Residential Historic District occupies another 40 blocks in the heart of the city. These buildings still display the city’s mill town personality and rise of the working class who lived in the shadow of the larger structures.

Since becoming a Virginia Main Street Community in 2000, more than 30 buildings in Danville’s downtown historic district have been rehabilitated. This activity was greatly enhanced by the restoration of the railroad depot and other core commercial buildings for community functions.

Even as tobacco declined and textiles moved in, the High Gothic Victorian mansions in Danville welcomed new owners. Now restored and renovated, these grand, delightful structures range from American Picturesque, Italianate and “The Wedding Cake House,” to Corinthian columns, American Four Square ,Queen Anne, and Georgian Revival. Resplendent in gables, gingerbread scrollwork, columns, porticos, cupolas and minarets, various residences served prosperous tobacco manufacturers as well as the entrepreneurs who formed Dan River, Inc.

The five architecturally distinctive churches that grace Millionaires' Row remind us why Danville is often referred to as the City of Churches. The okra colored brick and gray cobblestone streets that once graced the genteel district remain intact beneath the asphalt covering.

You can tour the home on Millionaires Row 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.

When you’ve finished exploring the historic district, meander down to the waterfront where the City of Danville has taken an old railroad warehouse and a historic train station and created an entertainment complex called The Crossing. The Danville Science Center is housed in the 1899 Passenger Rail Station and an additional renovated Southern Railroad building. The Community Market is housed in the Southern Railroad Warehouse. Riverwalk, a pedestrian trail, begins with a converted 1856 iron railroad bridge that serves as the gateway to the 3.5 mile trail along the Dan River.

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.

If you’re game this evening, the Martinsville Speedway is now celebrating its 60th year of operation. Founded the year before NASCAR was formed, the speedway is one of the oldest tracks in America that’s still a part of the Nextel Cup series. It is the only original NASCAR-sanctioned track still running Nextel Cup events. Richard Petty, now a car owner, holds the track’s winning record with 15 victories. Although it is the shortest track on the NASCAR circuit, the 800 foot straights coupled with turns banked at only 12 degrees performs like “two drag strips with a turnaround on each end.” Even if you’ve never been to a race before, enjoy the action!

Choice of Accommodations for night three:

Best Western Martinsville: Stay at this 95-room well-maintained property with complimentary breakfast, wireless internet and all the other customary amenities you expect from Best Western.
Clubhouse Bed and Breakfast: Experience this historic property originally built as the Marshall Field Clubhouse, later named the Fieldcrest Lodge after the textile company. The relaxed wooded setting lets you get out into the countryside.