Petersburg Magistrate

Some of the interesting museums which are located in Petersburg are the Siege museum, Centre Hill museum and the restored Blandford Church. With its artifacts, documents and photographs the Siege museum, located in the Exchange Building circa 1839, tells the story of the ten month siege of Petersburg during the Civil War. The actor Joseph Cotten, a Petersburg naive, narrates the film "The Echoes Still Remain" shown in the museum. Centre Hill museum is the Centre Hill Mansion built around 1823. The interior is an example of Greek revival architectural ornamentation as well as earlier Federal style and later Colonial Revival style architectural modifications. On exhibit are examples of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century decorative arts. In addition in the basement galleries there are exhibits on the history of Petersburg, memorabilia and photographs from Centre Hill's archives, a turn-of-the-century aviary of stuffed birds from Australia and church furnishings from First Baptist Church, the oldest African-American congregation in the United States. The in Centre Hill feature permanent and temporary exhibitions Permanent exhibits include