Buckingham County, Virginia

Buckingham County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Buckingham
Year Organized: 1785
Square Miles: 581

Court House:

P.O. Box 252
County Courthouse
Buckingham, VA 23921-0252

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Buckingham was probably named for either the English county of Buckingham or for the Duke of Buckingham

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Buckingham County, Virginia formed from Albemarle and Appomattox Counties. Appomattox County gave only a small portion in 1859/60. [Virginia Counties: Those Resulting from Virginia Legislation, by Morgan Poitiaux Robinson, originally published as Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, Volume 9, January, April, July 1916, reprinted 1992 by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD.]

Buckingham County was named for either the English county or for the duke of Buckingham. Some sources say that the county's namesake is Archibald Cary's tract of land called Buckingham, on what was then Willis's Creek. It was formed from Albemarle County in 1761. Its area is 582 square miles, and the county seat is Buckingham. The population is 15,623 according to the 2000 census. Buckingham is one of the Commonwealth's Burned Records Counties. County court records were destroyed by fire in 1869. One plat book survived and some wills and deeds were later recorded.

Geography

The geographic center of Virginia is in Buckingham County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 584 square miles (1,511 km²), of which, 581 square miles (1,504 km²) of it is land and 3 square miles (7 km²) of it (0.46%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Albemarle County, VA to the north
Appomattox County, VA to the southwest
Cumberland County, VA to the east
Fluvanna County, VA to the northeast
Nelson County, VA to the northwest
Prince Edward County, VA to the south

Cities and Towns:

- Buckingham (County Seat)
- Dillwyn	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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