Detail Map: Slate River District
Here’s the first of a series of detailed maps of Buckingham County. This is the Northeast corner of the county. To the north is the James River and Fluvanna County. To the east is Cumberland County.
This detail includes New Canton (the river town just off Highway 15), Arvonia (the area where Buckingham slate was and still is quarried), Gold Hill (the name speaks for itself), and “blink and you’ll miss it” spots like Nuckols and Gravel Hill. Wikipedia calls them “unincorporated communities.”
The Buckingham Female Collegiate Institute was located in this part of the county. It was described as “just off the Richmond-to-Lynchburg stage route, and twelve miles from New Canton on the James River.”
On the left side of the map, the Slate River snakes towards where it flows into the James River. The Buckingham Branch Rail Road runs south towards Dillwyn.
If you click on the map, a separate image will open and you can enlarge any area you are interested in.
Note: This map was created c. 1989 and, therefore, is not completely current; however, change comes slowly to Buckingham so it remains useful.
Key for the “Points of Interest” in green, roughly from north to south:
31: Slate Quarries; 5: Carter G. Woodson Memorial; F: Fire Department; R: Rescue Squad; 13: Frances Redwood Educational Center; 16: Gold Hill Village; 7: Central Virginia Community Arts Center; 28: Old Buckingham Church
slate river ramblings . . . . 
My Taylor Family lived on the Slate River, Troublesom Creek. Jordan Taylor lived in the Tall House. He was 100 years old when he died at the Tall House. There is a cemetery on the property but it was covered with Trees and shrubery. Jordan”s father James Taylor built the House. The House is empty now and cows were grazing there when I saw the house. Linda Z
Linda, thanks for your comment. I’ll keep my eyes open for the Taylors and Tall House. Joanne
As might be expected, the Nuckols community in Buckingham was apparently named for the Nuckols family in the area. That overall family included the “early” James Nuckols (circa 1670-1727) who married (as his second wife) Susannah Pouncy. Nuckols Road and Pouncy Track Road, just to the west of the Richmond, VA area, are supposedly named for those families.
My Davidson family in Buckingham married into the Nuckols family on several occasions. The brother of my great-grandfather Thomas Archer Davidson was named Eli Banton Davidson, and Eli’s first wife was Lucy Alice Nuckols, a daughter of Charles James Nuckols and Sarah Frances Jones. One of Eli and Lucy’s sons was named Walter F. Davidson, and Walter married Hazel Melvin Farmer (1896-1989). Hazel was the postmistress of the Nuckols post office in Buckingham for many years. Hazel was the adopted daughter of Eli, and she had worked as a maid in Eli’s home (“Cherry Hill” on Rt. 622) before she married Walter. Eli, Lucy, Walter and Hazel are all buried at Buckingham Baptist Church on Rt. 15.
Thanks, Bill. Just this morning, I was working on Buckingham County Post Offices. It was not unusual to have postmistresses in Buckingham. Do you know the approximate dates that Hazel worked at the Nuckols Post Office?
I am not sure of the exact dates, but she (I understand that she went by “Melvin”) and her husband Walter F. Davidson were having children by at least 1916….so I suspect that she was the postmistress sometime between then and when she reached retirement age (she apparently retired while working for the post office). She would have been about 65 in1962, so she might have retired around that time….though she might have worked longer then that, since she lived until 1989 (she died around the age of 92). Walter was about 20 years older (born 1877), and he died in 1954. If I learn more about the dates, I will certainly let you know.
Thanks!
I did not see any references for the numbers and letters on the map. are these available?
Yes. The “Points of Interest” aren’t necessarily historical or I may not have mentioned them yet. I will add a key. Thanks for asking.