Buckingham County was formed from Albemarle County in 1761, and its county seat is Buckingham, originally known as Maysville. In 1822 a courthouse, Virginia's first temple-form porticoed courthouse, was constructed there based on Thomas Jefferson's plans; after it burned in 1869, it was rebuilt in 1873 to a similar design. American Revolutionary soldier Peter Francisco lived in the county for a number of years, and Carter G. Woodson, the noted African American teacher, educator, and historian, was born there in 1875. Nelson County, in the foothills of Virginia's Piedmont, was formed from Amherst County in 1807 and named for Thomas Nelson Jr., governor of Virginia from June to November 1781. Its county seat is Lovingston, where the courthouse was built under the supervision of George Varnum in 1809 according to plans submitted by Sheldon Crostwait, one of the justices, and though it has been modified and enlarged over the years, it remains one of Virginia's best-preserved historic court structures.