Before the archive goes digital, Northside alumni already did the work
The Northside alumni souvenir book preserves a community's names and memories.
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Stories, businesses, produce, public listings, discussions and Lost & Found.
30 stories
Pete’s Pond has drained: a changed landscape at White Oak Mountain
Virginia DWR’s current area page identifies a future wetland direction. Visitors should check the changed conditions before planning a pond outing.
Gretna's Vivian Taylor turns a summer internship into research experience
The CEA Innovation Center documents a local student's work in applied plant research.
Gretna Community Council meeting listed for September 14
Danville Regional Foundation lists an evening meeting at Elba Missionary Baptist Church.
Karice Luck-Brimmer to explore Cherrystone's community history
A January program will examine churches, burial grounds and early education.
October Career ChoICE expo connects students with work they can see
The 2026 event is listed at the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex.
Regional housing summit puts the places people live on the growth agenda
A planned October summit invites the building sector and community advocates.
Two September workshops put business planning and websites on the calendar
Longwood SBDC lists online sessions for September 17 and 23, giving local owners a practical place to start their next business task.
Two library doors for everyday learning and the region's remembered lives
Gretna's branch library and Chatham's History Research Center give residents separate starting points for reading, research and questions about the past.
Starting or growing a business? Match the question to the right local desk
Business advice, town licensing and county development each serve a different purpose. Here is a practical route through them.
Chatham drought warning reaches county customers beyond town limits
Pittsylvania’s September 11 alert identifies the county service areas supplied by Chatham and asks customers to begin conserving water.
Sheriff’s Office schedules public feedback sessions, including November 12 in Gretna
Four meetings give residents a chance to discuss public safety services as the county agency pursues its first CALEA accreditation.
Eight Danville businesses finish holiday campaign training; October workshop is next
The city’s September 10 update explains the completed program’s matching funds and a separate, city-business-only marketing session.
SoSi visitor spending reached $415.2 million in 2025; read the regional totals carefully
Newly announced estimates cover Danville and Pittsylvania together. They are a regional economic measure, not Gretna’s own sales or a list of open jobs.
Gretna’s welcome line—and ways to make it your own
The town website’s familiar words open a conversation about belonging, local knowledge and participation.
The farms around Gretna have more than one story to tell
A USDA county snapshot puts tobacco alongside livestock, dairy and other parts of the agricultural landscape.
A conservation plan starts with your farm and your goals
Pittsylvania landowners have a local starting point for discussing soil, water and farm-management goals.
The freight ramp and the flue shop: how Main Street served farm country
Two documented details connect downtown commerce with railroad freight and farm supplies.
Elba Park has a $5.17 million planning estimate. What happens next?
Gretna's 2026 council minutes document a master plan, questions about grant funding and competing priorities. The park's earlier history helps put those decisions in perspective.
How the U.S. 29 100 Mile Yard Sale became a spring-and-fall tradition
Local reporting dates the sale to 2015 and documents its two-season rhythm by 2023. Its history is also a story of neighbors meeting, small sellers returning and a highway connecting communities.
Sharswood, part 1: A house bought for family opened a door to history
Fred Miller wanted room for family gatherings. His May 2020 purchase led the Miller family into a history that was local, national, and deeply their own.
Sharswood, part 2: Read the Gothic Revival house—and look beyond it
The 1850s main house is architecturally important, but its design tells only one layer of the property’s history.
Sharswood, part 3: The smaller building is older than the mansion
A sixteen-by-thirty-two-foot structure behind the main house changed uses over time—and preserves rare evidence of enslaved family life.
Sharswood, part 4: Fifty-eight people, twelve dwellings, and a record without names
The 1860 census counted the people held at Sharswood but largely denied them the basic recognition of being recorded by name.
Sharswood, part 5: Sarah Miller carried the family story across emancipation
A photograph, a death certificate, a census entry, and Marian Keyes’s memories brought one post-emancipation life into focus.
Sharswood, part 6: How the records linked David and Violet to the plantation
The breakthrough came from connecting—not guessing across—a death certificate, the 1870 census, and Virginia’s slave birth register.
Sharswood, part 7: The 1866 labor contract—and the limits of the available copy
A courthouse document reportedly names David and Violet after emancipation, but its full terms still need direct inspection before they are quoted or interpreted.
Sharswood, part 8: The burial ground beyond the property line
Uninscribed stones in a wooded area became evidence of lives the formal record had obscured—and a call for careful stewardship.
Sharswood, part 9: What the 60 Minutes report documented
The national broadcast preserved the Miller family’s voices and the evidence trail. Its 2026 update should not be mistaken for a newly filmed investigation.
Sharswood, part 10: From discovery to descendant-led stewardship
The Sharswood Foundation is carrying the family’s discovery into preservation, education, and public memory—work that remains active rather than finished.