At Sharswood, descendants are reshaping how local history is told

A descendant-centered preservation story

Sharswood’s recent history changes who gets to explain a historic property. In 2020, Frederick Miller purchased the Gretna-area estate.

His family later learned through genealogical research that their ancestors had been enslaved there. The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History identifies Violet and David Miller as Frederick Miller’s great-great-grandparents and describes the family’s preservation work as part of its own regional history programming.

The setting is a former tobacco plantation, with a nineteenth-century main house and an older building associated with the lives of enslaved residents. Those structures should be understood together.

The main house records one part of the property’s history; the spaces where people were compelled to live and work carry another. A visit that centers only on architectural appearance would miss the family relationships, labor, and loss that make this site significant.

Research and arranging a visit

The Sharswood Foundation describes its mission as recovering overlooked stories and preserving the site’s cultural history through education. In June 2026, the Danville Museum arranged transportation to the foundation’s Juneteenth celebration, linking participants in Danville with the Gretna-area property.

That event took place on June 14 and is now part of the record of the site’s community programming. For another visit or public program, consult the foundation directly for the current arrangements.

The story also offers a starting point for local family research. Pittsylvania County’s Historic Records Division maintains court records dating to the county’s formation in 1767.

Such collections can help place family accounts alongside recorded names, transactions, and dates, although the documents often use the language and assumptions of the people who created them. Read those records critically and keep the people they describe at the center.

At Sharswood, descendants’ work demonstrates how a property history can become more complete when family knowledge and archival evidence are brought into the same conversation.