This timeline was created in 2013 by Danville Regional Foundation interns as part of the History United Project. This timeline is still a work in progress--we recognize that there may be errors and gaps in the research and we are working to correct these. Thanks for visiting!
William Byrd II arrived in the fall of 1728 to survey the land of the Virginia and North Carolina border. He was guided by Bearskin, a member of the Saponi tribe that inhabited the region. Bearkskin taught Byrd about the land and the Saponi beliefs.
The Saponi tribe inhabited the region around the Virginia and North Carolina border before the arrival of the English settlers, and interacted with them on numerous occasions in the late 17th century and early 18th century. In 1740, the tribe migrated further north, eventually settling around Pennsylvania and Ohio.
The county of Pittsylvania is comprised of land that had formerly been part of Halifax County. The county was named after William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham. He also served as the British Prime Minister to George III.
Revolutionary War veterans used to convene in Wynne's Falls (now Danville) every year to fish and reminisce about the war.
Once a part of Orange County, North Carolina, Caswell County was formed in 1777 and was named after the governor of North Carolina, Richard Caswell. In its early years, Caswell was home to many of the state's top political leaders and was the founding place of the bright-leaf tobacco curing process, bringing wealth and notoriety to the area.
The city of Danville, known previously as Wynne's Falls, was founded by an act of the Virginia Legislature. Col. William Byrd II surveyed the area in the early 18th century and he also named the Dan River. He envisioned the area to be a place where residents could live with "much content and gayety of heart."
The signing of the Louisiana Purchase under the presidency of Thomas Jefferson in 1803 doubles the size of the United States, taking it as far west as the Rockies and as far north as British North America.
The first Masonic Lodge of Danville, founded by J. B. Roy, Stokeley Foster, Thomas White, Thomas Rowlings, Dabney Sneed, Edmund Cabell, James Conner, and Matthew Sims.
