1607 

Captain John Smith was captured by the Powhatan Indians in New Kent and taken to the Tribal Village of Orapax on the Chickahominy River near the present day Hanover County line.

 

1662

Cumberland Plantation was established on the Pamunkey River at the site of the ferry from King William County.

 

1678 

St. Peter's Church was established at Talleysville and built in 1701. The Church, where Martha Dandridge Custis worshipped and married General George Washington continues to hold regular services today.

 

1731 

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was born at Chestnut Grove. 

 

Cumberland, a colonial town on the Pamunkey River in New Kent, lost to Williamsburg by three votes to replace Jamestown as the capitol of the Virginia Colony.

 

1759 

Martha Dandridge Custis marries George Washington on January 6th.

 

1781 

Washington and Rochambeau came through New Kent on their way to Victory at Yorktown. 

 

1930 

The New Kent High School, now a National Historic Landmark, is built.

 

1935 

The New Kent Training School (for African American children) is built. The School, now a National Historic Landmark, was later named the George W. Watkins School in honor of its first principal.  

 

1968 

Charles C. Green vs. the County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia became the most important school desegregation case since Brown in 1954.