THE LATEST

The first crown: Rico Reynolds, Vic Hall and Gretna’s 2003 breakthrough Twenty-eight straight: Gretna’s 2004 title and the community that followed Fifty-two to zero: the names behind Gretna’s 2007 championship Defense and the ground game: how Gretna secured its fifth football title A first for Hawks basketball: remembering the 2024 regional champions

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01 / Pittsylvania County

Gretna

Home of the Hawks. A crossroads with a story.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗02 / Pittsylvania County

Pittsylvania County

Small towns, working land and generations of community.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗03 / Independent city

Danville

The River District, civil rights and a changing city.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗04 / Pittsylvania County

Chatham

Courthouse history and a walkable Main Street.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗05 / Pittsylvania County

Hurt

River country, neighbors and everyday life.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗06 / Campbell County

Altavista

Railroads, rivers and a town built around connection.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗07 / Bedford, Franklin & Pittsylvania area

Smith Mountain Lake

Make a day of the water, the trails and the shoreline.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗08 / Independent city

Roanoke

Blue Ridge views, Black heritage and city culture.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗09 / Independent city

Lynchburg

James River stories and the city beyond the postcard.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗10 / Bedford County

Bedford

Local places, shared history and a town to explore.

Stories · What’s on · Local connections ↗

Stories across the region

The history desk

Brick storefronts on Main Street in Gretna, Virginia — Image: Nyttend · Public domain

History · 3 min

Gretna’s railroad beginnings are still legible on Main Street

Franklin Junction, Elba, and Gretna connect a commercial district to the rail lines that helped it grow.

Exterior of the Sutherlin Mansion, now home to the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History. — Image: MarmadukePercy / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

History · 3 min

Danville’s Black history: organizing, music, and the museum on Main Street

A fuller reading of Danville connects civil-rights resistance, Camilla Williams’s career, and the enslaved people behind a prominent house.

History · 3 min

At Sharswood, descendants are reshaping how local history is told

A Gretna-area preservation story puts family research and the lives of enslaved people at its center.

Local guide · 3 min

The Pantheon’s autumn calendar brings comedy, Motown, and pop to Danville

A dated guide to official October listings at Caesars Virginia, with the links needed to plan a night out.

Historic commercial buildings on Henry Street in Roanoke’s Gainsboro neighborhood. — Image: Patriarca12 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

History · 3 min

Read Roanoke through its rail museum and Gainsboro’s Henry Street

Locomotives and a historic Black commercial district reveal different parts of the city’s working and cultural life.

Fountain and plantings in the garden at the Anne Spencer House in Lynchburg. — Image: Loslazos / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

History · 3 min

Lynchburg’s literary landscape begins at Anne Spencer’s home

A house, a garden, and the city’s Green Book history connect creativity with the realities of life under segregation.

Wide view across Smith Mountain Lake toward a wooded shoreline. — Image: 23penguin / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

History · 3 min

A lake-country day with room for Booker T. Washington’s history

Pair the shoreline and trails at Smith Mountain Lake State Park with the national monument preserving Washington’s birthplace.

Brick Chatham railway depot with a tile roof and CHATHAM sign. — Image: Nyttend / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

History · 3 min

Chatham, Altavista, and Hurt: three towns, three different beginnings

Courthouse history, a planned railway town, and a twentieth-century community give the Route 29 corridor its own texture.