Arvonia

The name Arvonia was derived from Caernarvon, Wales, home to the Welsh quarrymen who settled the area in the mid-19th century. Arvonia is known for the long-lasting and unfading blue-black Buckingham slate that adorns many of Virginia's historic buildings including Berkeley and the Executive Mansion, as well as Colonial Revival dwellings across the nation. Most Arvonia houses, and other buildings, are ornamented with slate; it is also used for tombstones in local cemeteries. Buckingham slate earned gold medals at the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876, the 1893 World's Columbia Exposition, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at the 1904 Saint Louis World's Fair.