New Kent County was established in 1654 when York County (previously named Charles River Shire, one of Virginia's original eight shires) was divided into more manageably-sized counties. Further division took place in 1720, when Hanover County was carved from New Kent's western reaches.
The county was named after Kent in England, but in a roundabout fashion: Some of the county's first English inhabitants had started their lives in the New World on Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay, from which they had been ejected when the strictly Catholic colony of Maryland was chartered in 1632. New Kent County was thus named for an island which had been named after Kent.
New Kent had its own brick courthouse by 1695, but it was a particularly unlucky one: It burned in 1753, and its successor burned in 1775. In 1862, during the Civil War, the county's jail was burned at the order of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart, in order to keep the county's corn supply, stored in the jail, out of the hands of the approaching Federal troops.
Fire also claimed New Kent County's Clerk's Office in 1787, destroying most of its Colonial-era records. During the Civil War the county's more recent records were transferred to Richmond for "safekeeping," which turned out to be not safe at all, as Richmond was burned by the Confederacy in April of 1865.
The courthouse was also damaged during the war, and the historic New Kent County courthouse and jail we see today were built in 1909. The New Kent County Historical Society restored the jail in 1998, which it now uses as a museum and depository for historical artifacts.
There are five historical markers and/or monuments before New Kent's courthouse. The Confederate Memorial is naturally front and center, and it notes (Lest we forget) the military units which were organized in New Kent County: The Pamunkey Rifles, Barhamsville Grays and New Kent Cavalry...and reveres the memory of all soldiers and sailors from new Kent County during the Civil War.
There are three Virginia Historical Markers: New Kent Courthouse; James Lafayette and Martha Washington's Birthplace.
Also in front of the courthouse is an obelisk noting New Kent residents Martha Dandridge and John Parke Custis.
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