Buckhead was one of the earliest settlements in Morgan County, and in the early 1800s the area remained close to Native American territory. According to local lore, hunters crossing the Oconee River from Greene County found the site ideal for settlement and hung the head of a buck deer in a tree to mark their good fortune, giving the community its name. Although Buckhead was formally incorporated by the Georgia Legislature in 1887 and recorded in 1908, the earliest documented reference to the community is an 1819 account ledger for a general store there. A post office had been built by 1823, the Georgia Railroad came through by the 1830s, a Methodist church was organized in 1824, and a Baptist church in 1890. In 1900, a four-room schoolhouse with ten grade levels, eight teachers, and an auditorium was constructed. Buckhead also developed a thriving commercial center with four general stores, two drug stores, a bank, a cotton buyer’s office, three restaurants, a barber shop, a livery stable, and a hotel, along with industries that included a cotton gin, a grist mill, and a blacksmith shop. Over the years, several large fires destroyed many old buildings, and the local agricultural economy shifted from cotton production to dairy operations.