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Buckingham County, lying south of the James River and in the Piedmont at the geographic center of the state, was established on May 1, 1761 from the southeastern portion of Albemarle County. The origin of the county name probably comes from the Duke of Buckingham (Buckinghamshire, England). Some sources say that the county was named for Archibald Cary's estate "Buckingham," which was located on Willis Creek. This is the only Buckingham County in the United States.
In 1778 a small triangular area bordering the James River was given to Cumberland County. In 1845, another part was taken from Buckingham to form the northern portion of Appomattox County. A final adjustment of the Appomattox-Buckingham county line was made in 1860, and Buckingham's borders then became fixed in their current form. A fire destroyed the courthouse (designed by Thomas Jefferson) in 1869, and most of the early records of this county were lost.
In the nineteenth century the county was settled more heavily by people migrating from the Tidewater area. It was devoted chiefly to plantations, worked by enslaved African Americans. These were converted from tobacco cultivation to mixed farming and pulpwood harvesting as the markets changed and the soil became exhausted from tobacco. These new types of uses required fewer slaves, and many were sold from the Upper South in the domestic slave trade to the Deep South, where cotton cultivation expanded dramatically in the antebellum period.
During the twentieth century, Joe Thompson bought the Buckingham Mill. In 1945 he put into place the long system of utilizing grain which used sifters as the grain was ground. Seven years later he added grain elevators. This was the last mill to make flour in Buckingham County and represents a time when America relied on the small farm and small business owner.
In the 21st century, large tracts of land are held by companies such as WestVaco, which sell pulpwood and other timber products to the paper mills and wood product producers. It is still largely rural, with areas devoted to recreation such as fishing and hunting. The County is home to families who can trace their ancestry to the early colonial history of Virginia. Many families still live on tracts of land that were granted to their ancestors in that period. Some of the land grants were originally given to French Huguenots, who resettled from London, England in the southwestern part of the county in the early 1700s.
During the American Civil War, General Robert E. Lee's army marched through the county during his retreat on their way to surrender at Appomattox, Virginia. A marker in the cemetery of Trinity Presbyterian Church in New Canton reads,
According to the oral history of Trinity Presbyterian Church and this community, here are 45 Confederate and Union soldiers buried in mass graves directly behind this church. They left Appomattox after the surrender and headed for their homes north of here. Sick with disease, they died in a nearby camp. That they may not be forgotten, this plaque is placed by the Elliott Grays UDC Chapter #1877 2003.
This project is a table of contents for all projects relating to this County of Virginia. Please feel free to add profiles of anyone who was born, lived or died in this county.