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The Southwest Virginia Discussion Forums provide an opportunity for residents of Southwest Virginia's communities to engage in online discussion of a variety of topics and issues.
We also offer to create upon request, a custom discussion forum for local Southwest Virginia community organizations and neighborhoods. To access our special Buchanan County forum for discussion of the government, issues, and local politics of Buchanan County, Virginia, click here. To access our special Town of Grundy forum for discussion of the government, issues, and local politics of the Town of Grundy, Virginia, click here. Click here for information on how to request a community organization forum. Click here for information on how to request a custom forum for your neighborhood

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Historical Sites in Grundy and Buchanan County

Buchanan County Courthouse - Excerpts from Nomination to National Register of Historical Places Posted by DigitalDominion (744)

The Buchanan County Courthouse, originally built in 1905-06, is the only building of architectural sophistication in the frontier-like, coal-mining community of Grundy in the hook of southwestern Virginia's tip. The building is located at the town's main intersection with the steep, almost cliff-like wooded hills rising immediately behind. The courthouse is in the Renaissance Revival style; its focal point is a graceful corner clock tower. Rough-faced ashlar of locally quarried stone is used for the wall surface. Because of a 1915 fire and subsequent remodelings, little of interest survives on the interior. Included in the nomination is an adjacent county office building and a large, five-story wing currently under construction.

The Buchanan County Courthouse was designed by the Washington, D.C., architect Frank Milburn in the Renaissance Revival style popular for public buildings at the turn of the century. A copy of Milburn's rendering of the original design survives in the picture collection of the Virginia State Library and shows a fairly standard but dignified medium-size civic structure of the period, carefully and knowingly articulated. Giving the design special character is a tall, slender, corner clock tower with an open belvedere at the top.

The Renaissance Revival-style courthouse at Grundy, in the heart of Virginia's most productive coal mining region, is Buchanan County's most distinguished public building. The fourth courthouse to serve the county since its formation in 1858, the gray sandstone edifice with its tall corner clock tower was designed by Frank P. Milburn and Company of, Washington, D. C., specialists in various Classical styles, and completed in 1906.Milburn's firm was responsible for several other courthouses in Southwest Virginia and also supervised the 1917 reconstruction of the Buchanan courthouse interior, gutted by fire in 1915. The subsequent evolution of the building closely reflects the more recent history of the county's burgeoning mining industry.

The General Assembly created Buchanan County from Russell and Tazewell counties on February 13, 1858. Difficulties arising from living so far from the distant county seats at Lebanon and Tazewell had prompted inhabitants of the area's creeks, hollows, and bottomlands to pray for the designation of a new county, which was named for President James Buchanan, who carried Virginia in the 1856 election. The new county seat was established at the town of Grundy, so named to honor the Virginia-born Tennessee statesman Felix Grundy (1777-1840). On the eve of the Civil War the county saw an influx of farmers from Kentucky, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland, as well as colliers from England and Wales, and a handful of lowland and Piedmont merchants. The population of the county grew slowly throughout the remainder of the 19th century, doubling every twenty years, from 2,755 in 1860, to 9,692 in 1900. At the turn of the century Grundy was still a pioneer town, lacking railroad service and just beginning to feel the county's first wave of prosperity with the movement of large lumber companies into the area in the 1890s.The county's first courthouse was a small frame structure that burned in 1865. It was soon replaced by a second crude structure, destroyed by fire in 1885. As a consequence of these two fires, very few county documents predate 1885. As a precaution against further fire damage, the crude wooden building which replaced the 1865 courthouse featured a stone vault. This structure served the citizens of Buchanan until the present courthouse was built in 1905-06.Construction of this larger and more imposing building was necessitated chiefly by a surge of population into Buchanan between 1890 and 1910 in search of employment in the county's growing lumber industry. By 1901 a town government for Grundy had been organized, construction of the Big Sandy and Cumberland logging railroad was complete, and telephone service had been introduced into the area. In a region of Virginia known at the turn of the century for its lawlessness, a condition fostered by the isolation of most of its inhabitants from the law, the new courthouse stood as a towering symbol of justice and order in a society not very far removed from conditions on the closing American frontier.

[640] "Articles, News & Announcements" versus "News & Announcements from the Community"
Understanding the difference between our "Articles, News & Announcements" feature and "News & Announcements from the Community."

"News & Announcements from the Community" is intended to be an organized community "blog" which enables all registered users to submit and self approve for posting news and announcements on a variety of topics relevant to daily life in our local region. That feature is unmoderated, thus registered users have the flexible ability to post news and announcements relative to the topic. Submissions to that category will be "pruned" after a reasonable period of time. We will, upon request, create a new topic category or subcategory for use by any regional neighborhood or community based organization so that members of that group may readily find and post...
[634] Whitewood High School - Excerpts from Nomination to National Register of Historical Places
Whitewood High School, which later became a combined high school and elementary school serving grades 1-12, is a two story brick building erected in 1940, with several brick additions of compatible design, dating to 1957. It includes a secondary, contributing building containing three additional classrooms. The architectural character of the larger facility is defined by the original 1940 section, in which Classical and Gothic-inspired elements are deftly combined with modern design elements and the use of modern materials such as pre-cast concrete. The school is the most prominent and significant architectural landmark in the Whitewood area of Buchanan County.

Whitewood resident Belinda Honaker has been the driving force in seeking this designation, and she continues to be...
[590] Water projects servicing 207 homes in Dickenson, Buchanan, and Tazewell Counties to be funded by largest water projects grant in history of Virginia Abandoned Mine Land program
2-11-2009: RICHMOND– Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced the approval of $3.6 million in funding for public water projects that will service 207 homes in Dickenson, Buchanan and Tazewell Counties. The $3,621,944 in funding for two public water projects is the largest amount granted to date through Virginia’s Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program. Water supplies in both project areas were affected by pre-1981 coal surface mining activities.

“Thanks to Virginia’s Abandoned Mine Land program, thousands of families throughout Southwest Virginia coalfields have reliable supplies of clean drinking water,” said Governor Kaine. “Now, hundreds more households will join other families who’ve benefited from the program’s projects.”

Since 1984, the AML program has funded...
[509] GOVERNOR KAINE ANNOUNCES SYKESâ€™ GROWTH SUCCESS IN BUCHANAN COUNTY
RICHMOND â€“ Governor Timothy M. Kaine today congratulated Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated, officials as they celebrated the grand opening of the companyâ€™s Southern Gap industrial park facility that has brought more than 250 jobs to the Buchanan County area over the past year. SYKES, which also operates a facility in Wise County, is a global leader in providing outsourced customer contact management solutions and services in the business process outsourcing (BPO) arena.

â€œIâ€™m excited to congratulate SYKES on its newest Virginia facility,â€ Governor Kaine said. â€œThis company has maintained a presence in Wise County for more than 10 years and has proven to be a valuable corporate partner. This latest endeavor is a great way to kick off Southern Gap industrial park and a...
[411] Buchanan FAQ Feature Launched!
We have launched our BuchananFAQ - a feature designed to enable users to ask and answer questions, to share their knowledge of Buchanan County and Grundy, and to create a knowledge base of frequently asked questions about Buchanan County and Grundy. Visitors and residents are welcome and encouraged to submit questions. If you know the answer to a posted questions, please feel free to share your knowledge and submit an answer. If you believe a posted answer is wrong, or could be improved, please post a comment. The Buchanan FAQ feature may be accessed from the user menu in the left column of each page.
[301] Welcome to www.Buchanan.Info
Welcome to www.Buchanan.Info - the "Web 2.0" website serving the the Town of Grundy and Buchanan County, Virginia community. Watch this site as we roll out new features. Register as a user and take advantage of the opportunity we offer to promote your business, share news and announcements of your group or organization, interact with fellow residents of Buchanan County, Virginia via the internet, and keep abreast of whats going on in Buchanan County, Virginia.

This site will be primarily devoted to promoting local content contributed by local businesses, organizations and residents. If you are interested in being a...