Buchanan, Virginia

 town, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic district

 Upload a photo

A large portion of the town of Buchanan is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a historic district:

"The present incorporated town of Buchanan was created in 1882 when two separate communities merged into one; Pattonsburg (established in 1788) sat on the north bank of the James River, and Buchanan (established in 1811) sat on the south bank. The Buchanan Historic District encompasses areas on both sides of the James River. The historic district includes the former 1788 town of Pattonsburg, which has preserved the original street grid as depicted in an 1818 map of the town. During the antebellum period, the well-capitalized James River & Kanawha Canal project linked Buchanan with the port of Richmond, and an influx of new development brought warehouses, hotels, and even docks to the riverside transportation hub. The canal was completed to Buchanan in 1851, and residences, stores. and churches were also constructed. The canal site is a vital piece of this region’s antebellum transportation history, as the Kanawha and James River Canal was the longest canal built in the South. Most buildings and structures within the district date from Buchanan’s late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century periods of development following the arrival of railroad networks and other industries."
-- Virginia Department of Historic Resources

NRHP #99000070