The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History is housed in the William T. Sutherlin Mansion, an Italianate house built by one of the city's tobacco-era elites. It combines changing art shows with local history, including the Civil War, Civil Rights, and Danville's long relationship with tobacco and textiles.
This is the right first stop if you want Danville to make sense. The house is handsome, the setting is central, and the museum puts the city's proud and painful history in one place.
story: > In April 1865, Jefferson Davis stayed in the Sutherlin Mansion after Richmond fell. For a few days, Danville functioned as the Confederacy's last capital before Davis and his cabinet moved south again.