Would you believe that the Danville museum of history doesn't have a single exhibit on the Old 97?…read moreThere'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…read moreas 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.

Pink Anderson tells the story this way…read more On the 29th day of one November morning, when the cloud was hangin' low, 97 pulled out from Washington city, like an arrow shot from the bow 97 was the fastest mail train the South had ever seen, and it run from New York by the way of Washington, through Atlanta down in New Orlean I was standing on the mountain one cold and frosty morning, watching the smoke from below, that were comin' from the funnel of that black and dusty engine, way down up on that Southern road It was 97, the fastest mail train that run the Southern line, and when she pulled in, at Lynchburg, Virginia, she was forty-seven minutes behind Steve Brady, he was an engineerah and a very brave man was he. Well, there're many good men have lost their life for the railroad company When they give him his orders at Monroe, Virginia, said, "Steve, you's way behind. This is not 38, but it's little 97, You must put her in Spencer on time." Steve, he smiled when he said to his black and dusty fireman, "Throw me in a little more coal, and as soon as we cross this White Oak Mountain you can watch my driver roll." It was mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville, the line on a 3-mile grade. It were on that hill where he lost his air brakes. You can see what a jump he made Steve come down that hill makin' 90 miles an hour, his whistle began to scream. Steve was found in the wreck with his hand upon the throttle and scalded to death by the steam Steve, he had a little wife and also two children, who were lyin' at home in bed. They received the sad message saying, "Husband and father now'm is lyin' in North Danville, dead." Now, ladies, you ought to let this be a warning, this, from now and on: Never speak hard words to your true lovin' husband, they may leave you and never return. Mikey C says: Amen

Dan can do all the things others won't. So if you have a job and nobody wants to help you -…read moreDanville. This is a great City underrated City located kind of in the middle of nowhere close to the Virginia Carolina border. It has a bloody history in the struggle for racial equality, and a tiny little downtown that is like a fun-sized happy meal of a downtown. It's super cute. There's not a lot of good stuff to eat, but there are a few hidden homestyle gems. This part of Virginia honestly has much more in common with West Virginia than it does Northern Virginia. If John Elway won't, ask Marino, because Danville.

The Veterans Memorial of Danville & Pittsylvania County is located inside the Dan Daniel Memorial…read morePark. The memorial is a great tribute to remember the men and women from the local Danville area who lost their lives in our Nation's wars from the American Revolution to current times. There is a 7ft tall x 158ft long black granite memorial wall with each soldiers name engraved along with the phrase "Freedom Is Not Free". There is also a circular brick Memorial Walkway with the names of Veterans on each brick.