Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 09/09/1969
NRHP Listing Date 11/17/1969
NRHP Reference Number 69000225
Established in 1818, this Buckingham County seat village was originally named Maysville. A simple courthouse was built just west of the settlement, but within three years a new courthouse was needed. Charles Yancy, one of the Buckingham County commissioners, wrote Thomas Jefferson requesting a set of plans. Jefferson complied, and the courthouse, completed in 1822, was the state’s first temple-form, porticoed courthouse. Around it developed a complex of court structures, taverns, and dwellings. Several of the buildings, most conspicuously Maysville Presbyterian Church, have a Jeffersonian character. The courthouse burned in 1869 and was rebuilt in 1873 along similar lines. Gen. Robert E. Lee and his defeated Confederate army passed through the village following Appomattox. Lee refused accommodation in a local tavern and pitched his tent with his men for the last time just east of town. The Buckingham Court House Historic District preserves its 19th-century air with few modern intrusions.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: February 2, 2023
