Kent County, Maryland
Kent County · Chestertown · this Kent sits here · Dover is not this hall
Chestertown is Maryland's oldest county seat still on the Chester. Not Delaware.
Kent was named on 2 August 1642 — Maryland’s oldest county still on the map — for Kent in England. Chestertown is the seat. This is not Kent County, Delaware. Dover is a different state. Kent Island is Queen Anne's. Elkton is Cecil. Staff who paste a Levy Court onto Cross Street, or a beach onto High Street, are on the wrong county.
Places include Chestertown, Rock Hall, Betterton, Galena, Millington, Worton, Still Pond, Kennedyville, and Massey. 2020 census: 19,198 — least populous Maryland county. Washington College (1782) sits here. It is a campus, not the hall.
This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — primary patrol on an upper-Shore map — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Kent County.
Code home rule since 1970. Three commissioners. Least populous.
Kent took code home rule in 1970. Three County Commissioners still sit. There is no County Executive. There is no Kent County Police Department. The Sheriff is primary law enforcement. Chestertown Police and Rock Hall Police are municipal. The Detention Center is listed as a county department at 104 Vickers Drive, Unit A, with a Warden. The Sheriff sits Unit B of the same public-safety complex. Confirm live custody on official Kent Detention Center pages. Not Howard’s Jessup Corrections split the same way as a large-county court shop. Not Harford’s Sheriff-run Rockspring.
The Sheriff is four years, Article IV § 44, 2026 on the State Board of Elections local-office list. The Governor is also 2026 — a different desk. The Town of Chestertown is a town clock.
Chester River, not the St. Jones, not the Severn
The Chester is this river. The Bay is west. Maryland 213 is this road. Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge is this refuge. This is not Delaware’s St. Jones. This is not Ocean City. Staff who paste a Dover green onto Cross Street, or a Bay Bridge toll plaza onto Rock Hall, are on the wrong county. The Bay Bridge sits in Queen Anne's.
Dixon Drive holds the elections office
The Board of Elections is at 135 Dixon Drive, Chestertown — not 104 Vickers, not 103 Cross Street, not Dover. A family in Rock Hall registers here, not in Delaware. Each municipality has a site. Chestertown’s town site does not speak for Galena. The Sheriff’s listing speaks for patrol, process, and court.
Vickers Drive patrols. Detention is a different door in the same complex.
Crime in the unincorporated county — including Worton, Still Pond, and Kennedyville — is this Sheriff. Crime in Chestertown or Rock Hall is often town police. Jail as a local house is the Kent County Detention Center at 104 Vickers Drive, Unit A. Civil process and Circuit Court security at 103 Cross Street are the Sheriff. Rights do not change at the Galena line. Remedy for Chestertown Police is the Town. Remedy for a Sheriff’s paper is the Sheriff. Relief when the Chester comes up at High Street is this count first.
Courts, Washington College is a campus, rights
A student uses town pages, the county jobs board, or the Sheriff’s official listing. Washington College is a campus. It is not the Detention Center. Chesapeake College serves this Shore; its main campus is Queen Anne's. Outreach that only knows a river photograph is not doing Betterton.
Upper-Shore snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Chestertown · Capital of Maryland: Annapolis (Anne Arundel)
- Government: three Commissioners · code home rule 1970 · oldest county · least populous
- Sheriff: four years · 2026 · primary patrol · no County Police
- Not Dover · Not Kent Island · Not Elkton · Not Annapolis
What Chestertown is not
- Not Kent County, Delaware. Not Dover. Not a Levy Court.
- Not Queen Anne's. Not Kent Island. Not Centreville. Not the Bay Bridge.
- Not Cecil. Not Elkton. Not Caroline. Not Denton.
- Not a campaign flyer.