New Canton, Virginia

New Canton is an unincorporated area in northeastern Buckingham County, Virginia, United States.

[2] In November 1793, the Virginia General Assembly decreed that a town to be named "New Canton" was to be established in Buckingham County on the James River, near the mouth of Bear Garden Creek.

This land was to be laid out into lots of one half acre each, with "convenient cross streets running throughout".

A private one-room Catholic chapel was constructed by local merchant John Thomas McKenna in the mid-1880s.

However, the canal in the area of New Canton was used until both it and the bridge were destroyed by Union forces during the Civil War (1861–1865).

The canal was repaired after the war, but traffic never returned to pre-war levels as railroads were becoming more numerous and popular.

The new Richmond and Allegheny Railroad offered a water-level route from the Appalachian Mountains just east of West Virginia near Jackson's River Station (now Clifton Forge) through the Blue Ridge Mountains at Balcony Falls to Richmond.

As motorcars became popular early in the 20th century, they too began using the bridge and the road down to the river became a highway for the ever-increasing motor vehicle traffic.

In 1934, a new highway bridge opened a few hundred feet to the west of the town, effectively a bypass isolating New Canton from through traffic.

The most active part of town is the post office which has remained in continuous operation, in several different buildings, since the early 19th century.

Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950) was an African-American who was born and raised in the New Canton area of Buckingham County.