Motorists on NC 8/89 in Danbury may have noticed on Main Street the white-columned 1904 Stokes County Courthouse known for its porticos and prominent stone monuments at its entrance etched with the names of Civil War Confederate regiments raised in Stokes County.

Also nearby at the roadside is a historical marker noting Union Army Chief of Cavalry General George Stoneman’s presence with 6,000 of his troopers on April 9, 1865 in the rural western Piedmont town—one stop on what would become famously known as Stoneman’s Last Raid through the northwestern region looking for his nemesis General Joe Wheeler and his daring Confederate cavalry and pockets of Confederate resistance, plus ransacking various buildings and tearing up railroad track.

He would not receive word of General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox until reaching Taylorsville, and finally Confederate General Joseph Johnston’s surrender on April 26, 1865. The Union troops would finally begin leaving North Carolina.

Less noticed is a two-story structure undergoing meticulous restoration including exceptional stonework by historical structure-experienced Wayne McBride of Madison, directly across the narrow lane at the courthouse’s west side, just steps from the monuments honoring the brave Southern recruits. Danbury residents Richard and Jane Tharp, owners of the 3,100 square foot National Historic Register-listed McCanless Inn/Moody Tavern at 601 North Main Street, are continuing their own monumental efforts to bring this treasure of the past to the present as an inn and restaurant/tavern much as it would have appeared when General Stoneman commandeered it as his Danbury headquarters, drank whiskey in the tavern with his staff officers and slept there on the second floor east-facing room.

It is also known that the Army of the Potomac leader Major General George Gordon Meade visited on a post-War Reconstruction inspection tour upon appointment as head of the Military District of the South. Read more on Stoneman’s Raid at http://www.nccivilwar.com/Stoneman/htm.

It is expected to be placed on the North Carolina Civil War Trails route in the near future. In 2006 North Carolina entered into a joint venture with Maryland and Virginia for listing important historical sites on the route to promote heritage tourism. Living History events with committed Union and Confederate re-enactors participating from Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are presently being planned for the McCanless Inn/Moody Tavern property.

Only a mile or so east is the North Carolina Civil War Trails site of the Moratock Iron Furnace built by Nathaniel Moody and his brother in 1843 on the tranquil banks of the Dan River at Moratock Park where many of Stoneman’s troopers encamped—the stone forge prominently highlighted for its role in manufacturing weapons for the Confederacy during the Civil War period.

Danbury includes other “gems” as well, from the restored Wilson Fulton House at 403 North Main Street (home to the Stokes County Historical Museum and the Stokes County Historical Society), to the Gypsy Hollingsworth History Room historical records, according to Audrey Barker, assistant to the head librarian, at the Danbury Public Library at 1104 Main Street.