Buckingham County was created in 1761 from the part of Albemarle County that lies below the Fluvanna/James River. When the Buckingham County courthouse burned in 1869, most of its records were destroyed, making subsequent genealogical and historical research extremely difficult. One of the few survivors from the county's old records is the Surveyor's Plat Book (1762-1858), which is housed at the Virginia State Library and here abstracted and edited by D.A.R. Librarian Eric Grundset. The abstracts and two indexes in this publication include the names of every person and place appearing in the Surveyor's Book.