The Henry County Courthouse is located at 3300 Kings Mountain Road, Martinsville, VA 24112; phone: 276‑634‑4601.
TOWNS
Beginnings [1]
Prior to its settlement, the area now known as Henry County, was a land of fertile savannahs with tree cane, park-like forests, and open level meadows. Chestnut, walnut, hickory nut, pignut and paw paw trees provided food for the buffalo, wolves, wildcats, deer, wild turkey, and elk which roamed the land. It was also home to Native Americans (sources differ on whether it was the Sioux or the Algonquin tribe). Henry County was named for Patrick Henry, the fiery patriot who proclaimed, "Give me liberty or give me death" in his opposition to the "bondage" in which England held the colonies through excessive taxation without parliamentary representation.
Patrick Henry typified the fiercely independent pioneers who left the relative civilization of the Tidewater for the wilderness of Southwest Virginia. Henry Countians supported their leaders in opposition to the strong central government which was called for in the new Constitution and supported advocacy for state's rights.