Buchanan

The Great Valley Road, which carried many settlers of European descent through Virginia beginning in the 1740s, crossed the James River nearby. This intersection gave rise to Pattonsburg, established north of the river in 1788 and named for early landowner James Patton, and Buchanan, laid out south of the river in 1811 and named for Col. John Buchanan. Commerce and manufacturing flourished, particularly after the James River and Kanawha Canal reached its western terminus here in 1851. Union Maj. Gen. David Hunter marched through in June 1864 on his way to attack Lynchburg. In 1882 the two towns were consolidated and incorporated as the Town of Buchanan.