Martinsville-Henry County Heritage Center & Museum

Martinsville-Henry County Heritage Center & Museum "I know no way of judging the future but by the past." -Patrick Henry

MHC Historical Society Executive Director Holly Kozelsky is spending the week in the Historic Landscape Institute run by...
06/19/2026

MHC Historical Society Executive Director Holly Kozelsky is spending the week in the Historic Landscape Institute run by Monticello and the University of Virginia. Along with 17 other historians and landscape specialists from across the East Coast, she is taking classes on Thomas Jefferson, history, landscape architecture and archaeology, with field trips to Monticello, Poplar Forest, the Anne Spencer House and Garden (Anne Scales Spencer was a Henry County native!), Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at Tufton Farm and the Morven Farm UVA Sustainability Lab. Top Virginia landscape and plant specialists and archaeologists are the instructors. This photo was taken during a morning when students did a little work in both the flower beds and the vegetable garden at Monticello. “This is the experience of a lifetime,” Holly said, “and I can’t wait to apply what I have learned to the MHC Heritage Museum - as well as my own gardens at home - and the connections I made also strengthen the Historical Society’s role in the state and beyond with other museums and institutions. Our instructors are top notch, and it is an honor to learn from them.”

Doesn’t this room tell you to relax and relish the moments of life? It is part of the Anne Spencer House in Lynchburg. A...
06/18/2026

Doesn’t this room tell you to relax and relish the moments of life? It is part of the Anne Spencer House in Lynchburg. Anne Spencer was a major poet, born in Henry County and with family from Patrick County. More to come.

06/17/2026

A printmaker prepares an old-style printing press to reproduce copies of the Declaration of Independence, at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia. He said 200 copies of the Declaration were printed, and only 26 or 27 are known to be in existence now. It took printmakers all night to set the blocks of letters, spaced and punctuation on the press, but once that was done, only about a minute per copy. The MHC Heritage Museum has a fine quality handmade reproduction, a gift from David Haywood of Axton. Be sure to see it as part of your Independence Day celebrations, such as the Patriotic Sounds on the Square starting at 5 pm Friday, July 3.

The seed catalogues of poet Anne Spencer, a Henry County native who ended up in Lynchburg. They were shown to us in the ...
06/16/2026

The seed catalogues of poet Anne Spencer, a Henry County native who ended up in Lynchburg. They were shown to us in the same session as a page from an original Gutenberg Bible - the first book ever produced on a printing press, around 1440, along with an original Audubon first edition, Thomas Jefferson’s original sketches outlining his proposed University, and other significant works. These are in the Special Collections Library at UVA, and seeing them is part of the curriculum of the Historic Landscape Institute which the MHC Heritage Museum director is attending. Note the foam structures which protect the opened books and the weighted strings which hold the pages open.

06/15/2026

Since so many people commented on the room on The Lawn of UVA, here is a video of the inside. Yes, it is a real wood-burning fireplace - and - for the first time starting two or three years ago - A/C. What year was UVA founded?

Who recognizes this iconic Virginia site? The director of the MHC Historical Society is staying here for a week with top...
06/15/2026

Who recognizes this iconic Virginia site? The director of the MHC Historical Society is staying here for a week with top historians and landscapers from up and down the East Coast to study in the selective, prestigious Historic Landscape Institute.

06/09/2026

On his way back from the MHC Heritage Museum, Cornflake stopped by The Big Chair. (Yes, we did a screenshot from Cornflake’s TikTok, just to get the Big Chair song it has!) # bigchair

06/07/2026

The Virginia Fire Museum is getting ready to open in Bassett! That will make eight museums in MHC. Which other ones can you name?

06/06/2026

Fierce security guard Cornflake warns the world he is protecting the MHC Heritage Museum - with an arsenal including cannons.

Address

1 E Main Street
Martinsville, VA
24112

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+12764035361

Website

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