Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History

A treasure! The house itself is an amazing piece of history. All of the other information and exhibits make it a great place to visit to learn about Danville VA and US history. The docents and volunteers were also super friendly and helpful.

What a historic treasure! The house has such a significance in US history, it should not be missed. The woman from the gift shop gave me a private tour, and we were able to have some discussions on different topics of historic interest. The house is beautifully maintained, with many original furnishings, paintings and clothing of the Sutherlins. Too bad the town turned it into a library at one point and moved the stair case, but you can definitely get a feel of what it looked like when Jefferson Davis stayed there. There is a wonderful Civil War room, with artifacts, Civil Rights wing, a black opera star Camilla Williams wing and an art exhibit wing.There is also an auditorium, but it was empty.The house has a spooky feeling and is haunted by benevolent ghosts. An upstairs room is the meeting place for the Daughters of the Confederacy.

Very interesting! The staff was extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Had a great collection of items from the 1800s and lots of information about the history of Danville and the house the museum is located in.

Friendly staff. A historic home with a storied past. Parking available in the rear. A great museum fo to visit for 1-2 hours. Cute gift shop with local items to purchase.

The chandeliers in this museum are amazing. The staff are exceptionally nice and helpful. The gift shop had lots of items and jewelry that was well priced.

Beautiful homes with amazingly unique architecture. Take the time to explore each one from a distance....youll see all kinds of neat little nooks.

Closed, we arrived about 15mins prior and since the hubby did 20yrs military, and is retired we would have had to pay $20 for the 2 of us to quickly look at a few Wendell Scott momentos, so we just went by his garage instead and enjoyed our time in Danville. History is awesome to see

What an awesome museum, you walk yourself through and it's like stepping back in time

Would you believe that the Danville museum of history doesn't have a single exhibit on the Old 97? There's not even a single picture of the train in the whole of the place. I went to the Danville Mall, and there's an exhibit of the Old 97 right outside the food court. Look, I get that there's more to this town than a dumb train wreck, but there's murals of the event on walls all over the city and to not have just one exhibit or plaque dedicated to it seems like an egregious oversight for a history museum.

My wife and I visited Danville during the sesquicentennial commemoration of the Sutherlin Mansion as the Last Capitol of the Confederacy. When President Davis and the Confederate cabinet withdrew from Richmond in April 1865, Danville was chosen as a temporary venue to host Confederate officials. No matter how some folks would prefer to marginalize Danville's historical relevancy to the Confederacy, there will always be that nexus and distinction. Attending the 150th commemoration events at the Sutherlin Mansion was a blast! Bertram Hays Davis made a brief speech and quite eloquently represented his illustrious ancestor, President Jefferson Davis. The picturesque mansion is beautifully maintained, and the staff display a consciousness for the significance of this historic landmark. As with most small town museums, the Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History operates on a shoe string budget. What they are able to accomplish, given their seemingly meager resources, is outstanding. Combining art and history is not an easy undertaking, but the Danville Museum does a fine job tackling that difficult task. Maintaining multiple rotating art galleries, in a small Southern town, is a laudable accomplishment. If I could offer one small shred of advice, it would be for those operating the museum to lower the volume on the discordant voices urging the museum to run away from its past. Rather, always honor and embrace Danville's role in Southern history.