Thomas and his wife, Anna Cline, built a house on the point overlooking the Ohio River in 1800. Thomas Buffington received a license to operate a ferry across the Guyandotte River around 1802. He later obtained a license to run a ferry across the Ohio River to present day Proctorville. He was one of the first trustees of the town of Guyandotte. The family continued to run a landing or wharf in Guyandotte after the ferries became obsolete due to the construction of a suspension bridge at Third Street. The bridge was built in 1852 by the Guyandotte Bridge Company. The company was incorporated by J.W. Hite, John Laidley, G.L. Beuhring, J. B. Hite, Peter Clark, P. S. Smith and P.C. Buffington in 1848. In 1873, the Cabell County Court purchased the private stocks and made the bridge free. It was replaced in 1908 with the Third Avenue Bridge and then with the present day bridge.

. Descendants of Thomas Buffington sold much of their property to Collis P. Huntington, reserving the property they owned in Guyandotte. The first mayor of Huntington was Peter Cline Buffington (grandson of Thomas),he was elected in 1871 and served in office until 1874. The fifth mayor was his half brother, Dr. Edward Buffington (both had served the Confederacy during the Civil War). The eleventh mayor was also of the Buffington family, T. S. Garland, brother-in-law to Peter Cline Buffington.