Established in December 1866, the Danville National Cemetery first was used to inter Union prisoners of war who died in the tobacco warehouses and factories that were converted into Danville’s Confederate prisons. Most of the dead, 1,170 known, and 143 unknown, were enlisted men and noncommissioned officers who succumbed to diseases ranging from pneumonia to scurvy. The cemetery also has four group burials, of sixteen U.S. Army and U.S. Army Air Force casualties of World War II. Their remains were reinterred in 1949 from cemeteries in France, Italy, and Honduras. The oblong Danville National Cemetery is surrounded by a low stone wall and is entered by wrought-iron gates. The original 1870s superintendent’s lodge was demolished in 1928 and replaced with the present Colonial Revival structure. The Danville National Cemetery was listed in the registers under Civil War-Era National Cemeteries Multiple Property Documentation (MPD) nomination
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia