13th Annual Walking Tour Archive – Danville Historical Society

Historic Designation: S.J. Slaughter House
Address: 154 Sutherlin Avenue
1985 Owners: Mr. & Mrs. E. Harrison Mitchell, III
Description:

In February of 1913, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Gresham of Baltimore, Maryland, sold a 50-foot lot, number I I on Sutherlin Avenue, to Mr. S.J. Slaughter. They had owned the property since 1894, and when it was conveyed to Mr. Slaughter their sale price of $2,250 included the cost of the present trim dwelling, then under construction. Actually a raised “cottage,” the house is typical of the simpler, less ornate structures built during the Edwardian era. Its clean lines are embellished with features such as the bevelled, leaded-glass front door, and a Neoclassical front porch. The Neo-classical influence is evident inside as well in the divider between the front hall and sitting room. The floorplan, with its center hail running the length of the structure, is functional and eminently liveable. 

Stonewall Jackson Slaughter, its first owner and occupant was a Danville tobacconist of some repute. He had married Elizabeth Maury, whose forebears, the Maury and Harvie families, are well known in the history of Virginia and Danville. Mrs. Slaughter continued to live here for several years after the death of her husband in 1945. In 1950 she sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. J. Kenneth Carter, who lived on Sutherlin Avenue for some 20 years. Mr. and Mrs. Elrod M. Long purchased the house in July of 1971, about a year before Sutherlin Avenue and nearby streets were included in Danville’s Historic District. During the 1970s they, like many other neighborhood residents, refurbished their house, spurred on by the renewal of the street signaled by the planting of Bradford Pear trees along the curbside in 1977, and by the influx of young homeowners/ restorers. The present 
owners, the Harrison Mitchells, have continued to ensure that the house gets the attention it deserves. It is furnished with pieces from several generation of their families. 

13th Annual Walking Tour Index