HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Jefferson Davis's last Confederate headquarters, where staff and visitors report apparitions, footsteps, and phantom cigar smoke.
975 Main St, Danville, VA 24541
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
General admission fee; see website for current rates. Special events may have separate ticketing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved walkways and first-floor gallery access; some upper-floor areas may have limited access.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1859 · Last Capitol of the Confederacy · Jefferson Davis Headquarters · Antebellum Tobacco Architecture · Civil War History
William T. Sutherlin built his home at 975 Main Street in 1859 during the height of Danville's antebellum tobacco economy. Sutherlin had made his fortune in the tobacco trade and served as a Major in the Confederate Army, as well as a civic figure in Danville — positions that made him a natural host when the Confederate government fled Richmond in April 1865.
On April 3, 1865, following the fall of Richmond, Jefferson Davis and his cabinet arrived in Danville by rail. Davis established temporary government operations in the Sutherlin Mansion, which served as the de facto Confederate White House for the final week of the war. On April 4, Davis issued what historians characterize as his last official presidential proclamation, urging Confederates to continue the fight from the Sutherlin dining room. He departed Danville on April 10, one day after learning of Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
The property passed through several owners after the Civil War before Danville acquired it for use as a museum. The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History opened in the mansion and has operated there since 1974. Its collection includes Civil War artifacts, fine art, and materials documenting Danville's industrial history.
The American Battlefield Trust documents the Sutherlin Mansion as a significant heritage site of the Confederacy's final days, and it remains one of the few surviving structures directly associated with Jefferson Davis's final week in office.
Sources
Reports of paranormal activity at the Sutherlin Mansion have come from museum staff as well as visitors. The most frequently cited phenomena are auditory — footsteps heard on upper floors when the building is confirmed empty — and olfactory: phantom cigar smoke detected in the dining room, the same room where Jefferson Davis conducted Confederate government business during April 1865.
Visual accounts are also documented. Museum staff have described a woman's apparition appearing in mirrors on the premises, though the identity of this figure is not attributed in the sources reviewed. A separate account describes the face of a man observing from a second-floor window, visible from outside the building.
The Showcase Magazine's 2021 regional coverage of Southside Virginia hauntings reported on security camera footage apparently showing floating orbs in the building and cited staff accounts of an apparition identified as Major Sutherlin in period dress. The orb footage is a common artifact of dust particles and lens effects and is not treated here as independent evidence of haunting. The apparition account attributed to Sutherlin is a local oral tradition without documentary corroboration.
The cigar smoke phenomenon in the dining room is the claim most directly tied to the mansion's documented history: Davis was known to smoke during his time in Danville, and that specific room is where the connection between the smell and the historical occupant is most plausibly drawn by those who report it.
Notable Entities
Self-guided tours of the Sutherlin Mansion's period rooms and rotating exhibits, including materials from the final week of the Confederacy in April 1865.
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