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Kentucky County
Henry County, Kentucky
Port Royal - Wendell Berry's Kentucky homeland - from Wendell Berry's Henry County roots (the poet, novelist, farmer, and environmental philosopher Wendell Berry has farmed Lane's Landing Farm in Henry County's Port Royal community since 1965 - his essays, poems, and novels rooted in the Kentucky River watershed community have made Port Royal and Henry County the most celebrated literary landscape in Kentucky, and Berry's advocacy for sustainable agriculture and rural community has made him one of America's most important public intellectuals) and Henry County's Kentucky River agricultural heritage.
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Office: Henry County Emergency Management – Administrator Amy Mahoney | (502) 845-5707, option 9 then option 4.
Sheriff: Henry County Sheriff’s Office – 123 Henry County Office Road, New Castle, KY 40050 | (502) 845-2909; Sheriff Keith Perry.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-71 and US-421 serve New Castle, the county seat; Eminence is the county’s largest city.
Notes: Henry County, formed December 14, 1798 from part of Shelby County, is named for Patrick Henry, the Virginia statesman famous for “Give me liberty, or give me death.”
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Henry County Courthouse, Jail, and Warden’s House (built 1875, National Register of Historic Places) – New Castle, KY.
Notes: Henry County is genuinely the lifelong home of Wendell Berry, one of America’s most celebrated living writers – a novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, and working farmer, born in the county in 1934 and still farming at Lane’s Landing near Port Royal on land his family has worked since the early 19th century. Berry’s fiction, set in the fictional community of Port William (modeled on Port Royal), and his influential agrarian essays – including “The Unsettling of America” (1977) – have shaped American environmental and local-food movements for decades; he received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2010. The Berry Center, a nonprofit founded in Henry County in 2011 and run by Berry’s family, continues to educate farmers on sustainable agriculture locally. The county’s historic tobacco-farming economy, once central to its identity, forms the backdrop for much of Berry’s writing.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Henry County Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via henrycounty.ky.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Henry County Public Library (New Castle) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Berry Center and the historic Henry County Courthouse district are the county’s notable cultural attractions; Eminence is also home to the globally recognized Eminence Speaker loudspeaker manufacturing company.
Notes: The genuine Wendell Berry connection is one of the most significant living-American-literature facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Henry County Property Valuation Administrator – Jason Scriber | (502) 845-5740.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Henry Trimble Animal Shelter – 9213 Sulphur Road, Sulphur, KY 40070 | (502) 667-1055 or (502) 845-8050 | Email: [email protected]. A regional shelter jointly serving Henry and Trimble counties, dog-focused with 14 kennels; supports animal control, and owner surrenders when space allows.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Henry County Solid Waste – confirm current contact via henrycounty.ky.gov.
NOTES: Henry County is the second county in Kentucky’s eighth batch under the Round 3 A+ sourced standard. The genuine Wendell Berry connection is one of the most significant living-American-literature facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Henry County
Henry County is Wendell Berry’s Kentucky – the farmer-poet-philosopher who has worked Lane’s Landing Farm in Port Royal since 1965 has made Henry County’s Kentucky River communities the most celebrated literary landscape in the state and one of America’s most important centers of agrarian thought.
New Castle (the county seat, population ~900) and Port Royal serve the county’s agricultural and literary heritage communities north of Frankfort.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Henry County PVA at 23 courthouse Square, Suite 5, New Castle, KY 40050, phone 502-845-5740. KY residential assessed at 100% of fair cash value.
Courts & Legal
Henry County Circuit Court at 23 Courthouse Square, New Castle, KY 40050, phone 502-845-5908, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections, Marriage Licenses)
2 Henry County Square, New Castle, KY 40050
(502) 845-5700
CIRCUIT COURT CLERK (Court Records)
2 Henry County Square, New Castle, KY 40050
(502) 845-2881
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
2 Henry County Square, New Castle, KY 40050
(502) 845-5700
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Henry County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
The Henry County Courthouse, Jail, and Warden’s House (1875), listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a significant local landmark.
Local societies
No dedicated Henry County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Henry County District Court Henry County Courthouse, 30 North Main Street, P.O. Box 359, New Castle, KY 40050 (502) 845-2868
Henry County was founded 1798, named for Patrick Henry. Its seat is New Castle; its largest city is Eminence.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Kentucky has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code; probate is governed by KRS Chapter 395 (Administration of Estates), handled by the District Court in the county where the decedent resided (KRS 24A.120).
Dispensing with Administration – Kentucky’s simplified small-estate procedure, governed by KRS 395.450, 395.455, and 395.470. Available when the value of the personal estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $30,000, and the petitioner is a surviving spouse, adult child, or other qualifying heir/preferred creditor. The petitioner files a Petition to Dispense with Administration (Form AOC-830) with an affidavit listing assets, debts, and proposed distribution – no personal representative or full administration is required. Real estate is generally not covered by this procedure.
Regular (Full) Administration – for larger or more complex estates, the District Court appoints a personal representative (executor if named in a will, administrator if intestate), who gathers assets, pays debts, and distributes what remains under court oversight.
Step 2: filing for formal probate
File a Petition for Probate of Will and Appointment of Executor/Administrator (Form AOC-805) with the District Court in the county of residence.
If there’s a will, the court admits it to probate; it is then recorded with the county clerk (KRS 394.140).
The personal representative files an Inventory and Appraisement (Form AOC-841) of estate assets.
Notice to creditors is published; creditors generally have 6 months from appointment to file claims.
The personal representative pays valid debts, taxes, and expenses.
A Settlement of Estate (Form AOC-846) is filed, and the court closes the estate upon approval.
What it costs
Filing fees and publication costs are collected by the clerk and vary somewhat by county.
Kentucky does not require an attorney for probate, though it is commonly recommended, especially for formal administration.
Typical timelines: full probate generally takes 6-12 months; the creditor claims period is 6 months. Dispensing with Administration can move significantly faster once the estate qualifies.
Before distribution, a surviving spouse may petition for release of up to $2,500 from the estate as an exempt charge against estate property.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
2 Henry County Square, New Castle, KY 40050
(502) 845-5502
SHERIFF / TAX COLLECTOR
2 Henry County Square, New Castle, KY 40050
(502) 845-5502
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections, Marriage Licenses)
2 Henry County Square, New Castle, KY 40050
(502) 845-5700
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
2 Henry County Square, New Castle, KY 40050
(502) 845-5700
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Henry County Health Dept
(502) 845-4551
KY CHFS — Bluegrass Region
(859) 246-2090
KY Medicaid
(855) 306-8959
Henry County Medical Center
hcmcky.com (New Castle — quality critical access hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Henry County Health Department – confirm current contact via chfs.ky.gov local health department directory.
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