Arvonia took its name from Caernarvon, Wales, home of the Welsh quarrymen who settled the area in the mid-19th century. It became known for the long-lasting, 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 houses and other buildings in Arvonia are ornamented with slate, and it is also used for tombstones in local cemeteries. Buckingham slate won 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.