Buffington is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Cherokee County

Cherokee County, Georgia

As of the census of 2000, there were 141,903 people, 49,495 households, and 39,200 families residing in the county. The population density was 335 people per square mile . There were 51,937 housing units at an average density of 123 per square mile...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It began as the location of Fort Buffington, one of the Cherokee Removal Forts used to contain the Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 before the beginning of the Trail of Tears

Trail of Tears

The Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation and movement of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830...

 in 1838. After this time, Fort Buffington was either dismantled or fell into ruin, and only a state historical marker along State Route 20

Georgia State Route 20

State Route 20 is an abnormally-oriented route in roughly the shape of a capital J rotated ninety degrees to the left. Its counterclockwise terminus is at the Alabama state line in Floyd County, and its clockwise terminus occurs in the middle of an overpass over US 19/US 41 and SR 3 in Hampton in...

stands to identify its former site. Today, Buffington is quickly transforming from a rural to suburban community.