Buckingham Courthouse Historic District

Buckingham Court House is a small Virginia village strung along Route 60 on a ridge between Bryant Creek and the Slate River. Its center is a courthouse square with a two-story temple-form courthouse and a Doric portico. The present building replaced an 1823 courthouse, designed by Thomas Jefferson at the request of building committee member Charles Yancey, which an arsonist destroyed in 1869. Some of its column capitals and bases remain on the grounds. Around the square and along the highway are early-nineteenth century brick taverns, an inn shaped like an H, dwellings such as Rose Terrace with Flemish bond brickwork, and the circa 1830 Trinity Presbyterian Church, whose portico reflects Jefferson's courthouse. Nearly every building has slate shingles. The district was recognized as a well preserved example of an early-nineteenth century courthouse village, despite losses and highway traffic. A Confederate monument in the square honors local men killed in the Civil War, and Robert E. Lee passed through after Appomattox.