HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Civil War-era home on Danville's Millionaires Row where residents report apparitions of a Confederate soldier, a servant, and a child at the attic window.
904 Main St, Danville, VA 24541
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior viewing from the public sidewalk only. This is a private residence and is not open to the public.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat paved sidewalk along Main Street.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1860 · Antebellum Merchant Architecture · Old West End Historic District · Civil War Era Danville
The house at 904 Main Street in Danville's Old West End was built around 1860 by E.J. Bell, a local merchant active during Danville's antebellum tobacco economy. The structure reflects the Greek Revival influences common to affluent Southside Virginia residential construction of the period, with a two-story frame exterior and a street-facing facade that aligns with the merchant-class homes stretching along Main Street toward the Dan River.
Danville's Old West End emerged as the city's most prosperous residential corridor during the 1840s through 1870s. The concentration of merchant wealth along Main and surrounding streets earned the area its informal designation as Millionaires Row, a term that appears in local historical society materials and walking tour guides. Preservation efforts in the late twentieth century stabilized many of the surviving antebellum structures, including the Bell house.
The building's chain of title runs from the Bell family through the Pace and Boatwright families, giving the house its hyphenated surname designation in local historical catalogs. The Old West End Danville blog and the GoDanRiver local newspaper have both documented the house as a historically significant contributing structure in the district, with its Civil War-era construction and surviving architectural fabric placing it among the corridor's older intact examples.
Sources
The Old West End Danville blog and GoDanRiver have published accounts from occupants of the Bell-Pace-Boatwright House describing four distinct apparitions. The most frequently reported is a Confederate soldier observed entering the house from the exterior through the basement entrance — a figure seen only from behind, in period uniform, who disappears before reaching the interior. A second figure, described as a servant in historical dress, is seen passing through a doorway that has since been walled over during renovation, walking a path that no longer exists architecturally.
A young girl in period clothing has been seen inside the house, typically in hallways or near the staircase. The fourth account, the most visually specific, involves a child's face appearing at the attic dormer window and looking down toward the street. This window-face report has been made by people outside the house looking up.
The accounts are consistent across sources — the same four figures appear in each published version. Showcase Magazine's 2021 regional coverage of Southside Virginia hauntings corroborated the reports without adding new figures. Residents describe the presences as non-threatening, using the term 'friendly' in at least one published account.
This is a private residence. The apparition accounts come from the occupants of record and should be understood as personal testimony. The house is not open for paranormal investigation or interior tours.
The Bell-Pace-Boatwright House at 904 Main Street is one of Danville's oldest surviving Civil War-era homes. It is visible from the public sidewalk as part of the Old West End historic district. Do not trespass — this is an occupied private residence.
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