Historic Fincastle Inc. holds a festival in the middle of September as a fund-raising endeavor to continue the preservation of the town. Membership is welcomed. Botetourt County Historical Society maintains the Botetourt County History Museum in Fincastle. It is located behind the courthouse and membership in the Historical Society is welcomed. More than a dozen other Botetourt sites are on the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register.
Historical markers abound throughout the county, providing a glimpse of the past.
One in Fincastle notes that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark departed from this frontier town when they were commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the Louisiana Purchase. Other markers point to frontier forts, Indian raids and the like. Genealogists from around the country converge on the Botetourt County Courthouse researching family histories because Botetourt once stretched to the Mississippi River. In Buchanan, the only swinging bridge that crosses the James River is on abutments that date back 150 years. Locks, canal abutments and tunnels from the James River and Kanawha Canal offer a look at the country's early mode of transportation.