Gretna Green the marriage ceremony. The blacksmiths in Gretna became known as "anvil priests", culminating with Richard Rennison, who performed 5,147 ceremonies. The local blacksmith and his anvil became lasting symbols of Gretna Green weddings. Two in particular, The Old Blacksmith's Shop, built around 1712, and Gretna Hall Blacksmith's Shop (1710) became, in popular folklore at least, the focal tourist points for the marriage trade. The Old Blacksmith's Shop opened to the public as a visitor attraction as early as 1887. Victorian chronicler Robert Smith Surtees described Gretna Green at length in his 1848 "New Monthly Magazine" serial, "The Richest Commoner in
Gretna, Virginia Gretna, Virginia Gretna is a town in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,257 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Danville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Gretna Commercial Historic District and Yates Tavern are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Gretna is located at (36.953190, -79.362769). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.8 km²), of which, 1.1 square miles (2.8 km²) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) (1.83%) is water. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,257 people, 569