Your connection to the past and the building blocks of our community’s future …
The Historical Society’s popular summer music series will go out with a bang on Saturday, Sept. 19, with the popular Rosebud Band of Floyd.
Each day, this column tells you what happened here 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. Relive the times of legendary and forgotten stores and businesses - clubs - churches - and people, as well as politics and the other “big” news.
Field trips & classes
The MHC Heritage Museum offers tours to classes and groups, such as Martinsville Middle School in May 2025 (above). Specialists from the MHC Historical Society also give classes and programs to community groups and schools on your choice of topics. Email kozelsky@mhchs@gmail.com for information.
MHC Heritage Museum
1 East Main Street (former Henry County courthouse); open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.
The former courthouse features several exhibits on local history. Topics include means of communication; home sewing; the tobacco heritage; the furniture and textile industries which created great wealth in the area; local musicians; area nightlife; military; and more.
The 13,000-square-foot annex behind the museum — connected to the former courthouse with a skywalk — houses the King Collections of fascinating, rare and valuable antiques including Native American artifacts, trains, tools, a gambling parlor, firearms, ivory, early machines, baskets and pottery, dollhouses, medical devices, steam whistles, locks, horse tack and much, much more.
13,000-square-foot annex
Programs & Events
Sounds on the Square with Rosebud Band, Sept. 19
Henry County 250, a Sunday Afternoon Lecture, Sept. 20
Blue Jeans & Bling, Oct. 3
Ghost Walk, Oct. 9 and 10
Leatherwood & the Gravelys, a Sunday Afternoon Lecture, Oct. 18
Facility
The courthouse was built in 1824, significantly expanded in 1929 and retired from county use in 1996, when the Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society was formed to preserve it. The stately structure is available for rent for weddings, meetings, reunions, shows and more.
“I know of no way of judging the future than by the past.”
— Patrick Henry (1736-1799); Founding Father, Virginia Governor and Henry County planter