Editing Buckingham County, Virginia (section)

== History ==
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, Virginia|Albemarle County]].<ref name="HistoryofBuckingham">{{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=James Meade |title=The early history of Buckingham County |url=https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1096&context=masters-theses |website=[[University of Richmond]] UR Scholarship Repository |access-date=December 30, 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Salmon|editor-first=Emily|editor2=Edward D.C. Campbell, Jr.|title=The Hornbook of Virginia History : a ready-reference guide to the Old Dominion's people, places, and past|date=1994|publisher=Library of Virginia|location=Richmond|isbn=0884901777|pages=162|edition=4th}}</ref> 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, Virginia|Cumberland County]]. In 1845, another part was taken from Buckingham to form the northern portion of [[Appomattox County, Virginia|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 [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved black 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 [[History of slavery|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 small farms and small business owners.<ref>Pennington, M. & Scott, L. (1977). The Courthouse Burned: Buckingham County. Waynesboro: McClung.</ref>

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.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}} It is still largely rural, with areas devoted to recreation such as fishing and hunting.<ref>{{cite web |title=ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT |url=https://www.buckinghamcountyva.org/community/economic_development.php |website=Buckingham County |access-date=December 30, 2023}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="about">{{cite web |title=ABOUT |url=https://www.buckinghamcountyva.org/community/about.php#:~:text=Buckingham%20County%2C%20lying%20south%20of,County%20in%20the%20United%20States. |website=Buckingham County |access-date=December 30, 2023}}</ref> A marker in the cemetery of Trinity Presbyterian Church in New Canton reads:

<blockquote>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 [[United Daughters of the Confederacy|UDC]] Chapter #1877 2003.</blockquote>

In 2011, the county celebrated its 250th anniversary.<ref>Yeck, Joanne L. '' "At a Place Called Buckingham" ... Historic Sketches of Buckingham County, Virginia'' (Kettering, OH: Slate River Press, 2011).</ref>