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Buckland – history revisited
Development is the name of the game in Northern Virginia; except in one small neighborhood.
Just on the border between Prince William and Fauquier counties, the village of Buckland is easy to miss. Commuters fly by on U.S. 29, often not aware that they are passing through one of the nation's best examples of an 18th-century village.
"This is a very important site on the Journey Through Hallowed Ground for so many reasons," said Sharon Cavileer, interim director of the Prince William County – Manassas Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The village, situated on the Broad Run, is home to a plethora of Native American artifacts and sits atop ancient burial grounds. It was also a thriving community in the Revolutionary War era, an integrated antebellum community where whites and free blacks lived together in harmony, and the site of one of the Civil War's last Southern victories.
"It is pretty much part of the American story and worthy of preservation," Cavileer said.
Buckland's earliest history is little known but begins long before its first buildings were constructed. Archeologists have found more than 40 prehistoric shards of pottery and other Native American artifacts and part of the village has been built over a Native American burial ground, according to Linda Wright, president of the Buckland Preservation Society.
The area's first recorded history begins in the late 1700s when the area was originally referred to as Deer Lick and was owned by the sixth Lord Fairfax and later, Robert King Carter.
In 1774, the Buckland area passed to Samuel Love, whose sons served in the Revolutionary War and afterward, began developing the area as a center of trade. By the time the village was officially established and named Buckland by the General Assembly in 1798, it included shops, taverns, a woolen factory, a church, distillery, stone quarry and mills.
After the Revolutionary War, Buckland's location on the banks of the Broad Run kept it a vibrant and thriving community. Its location on the Fauquier-Alexandria Turnpike, which was built in the 1820s, made it an ideal stop for travelers.
The village continued to grow and by 1835, had a population of 180 whites and blacks.
In her 1830 book "Mrs. Royall's Southern Tour," travel writer Anne Royall described Buckland as "A romantic, lively business doing village, situated on a rapid, rolling stream … several manufactories are propelled by this stream which adds much to the scenery. Buckland owns the largest distillery I have seen in my travels. The buildings, vats and vessels are quite a show. There is also flour manufactory here on a very extensive scale – the stream is a fund of wealth to the citizens... encompassed with rising grounds and rocks, the roaring of the water-falls, and the town stretching up to the tops of the hills, was truly picturesque … a real Yankee town for business."
The Civil War rolled over Buckland in 1863 when Confederate forces, led by generals J.E.B. Stuart and Wade Hampton, ambushed the Union cavalry at Buckland Mills. The federal army was routed and fled to Haymarket and Gainesville, with the Confederates in pursuit.
Stuart's horsemen reportedly likened the chase to a foxhunt and the battle was afterward referred to as the Buckland Races by Southerners.
It was one of the last victories the South would see but for Buckland residents, the battle is significant for another reason as well.
Civil War artist and illustrator Alfred Waud sketched the Buckland battlefield on Oct. 19, 1863 and from his drawing, preservationists and archaeologists can compare today's sites to the village of 150 years ago.
"They think if the men returned to the site 150 years later ... they would recognize Buckland," Wright said.
The battlefield comprises 2,300 acres between Prince William and Fauquier and its protection is one of the primary missions of the Buckland Preservation Society.
Wright and her husband, Edward, own the 50-acre Cerro Gordo Farm in Buckland, where Gen. George Custer's Union forces were arrayed during the battle.
The Wrights and the other members of the Buckland Preservation Society are the owners of the homes and businesses that still stand in Buckland. Chairman David Blake owns Buckland Farm, the 550-acre site that includes Buckland Hall, the village's original structure.
The group's aim is to protect the village and to improve its use as a historical and educational site.
Gail Johnson, a member of the county's Architectural Review Board, said the educational aspect is key.
"I talk to teachers and I've said 'Would you like to have a place to go that has three distinct layers of history within a five-mile radius of your school?' and they say 'There is no such place,'" she said.
But there is. Buckland is just not yet well-known.
The Buckland Preservation Society is working to change that, however, and plans are in the works to open a visitor's center and museum in the village within the next five years.
"It is our vision that this will be the gateway to Prince William County in the Journey Through Hallowed Ground and also through Route 29 to show Prince William as it was and as it is," Cavileer said.
For more information about Buckland, visit www.bucklandva.org.
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