Bucks County is a county located in the U.S. state (commonwealth) of Pennsylvania. The county seat is Doylestown. Bucks County was one of the
three original counties in Pennsylvania. It was named by William Penn in 1682 after Buckinghamshire,
England, the county where he lived and from which his family originated. Bucks is the abbreviation for Buckinghamshire, and both
names are used interchangeably in England. Penn's home, Pennsbury
Manor, is located within Bucks County.
Place names in Bucks County
derived from places in Buckinghamshire include Buckingham, Chalfont (named after
Chalfont St Giles), Wycombe and Solebury (spelled Soulbury in England). Buckingham was the former county town of Buckinghamshire; Buckingham, PA, (now known as Bristol, not to be confused with the present village of Buckingham, near
Doylestown) was the county seat of Bucks County from 1705-1726. Chalfont St. Giles in Buckinghamshire was the parish home of William Penn's first wife, and
the location of the Jordans Quaker Meeting House,
where Penn is buried.
Bucks County was originally
much larger than it is today. Northampton County was formed in 1752 from part of Bucks County, and Lehigh County
was formed in 1812 from part of
Northampton County.
The counties
that lie adjacent to Bucks are: Lehigh County (northwest); Northampton County (north); Warren County, New Jersey (northeast); Hunterdon County, New Jersey (northeast); Mercer County, New Jersey (east); Burlington County, New Jersey (southeast); Philadelphia County (south); and Montgomery County (west).
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