New Kent County is our home. In fact, our family has been located here, only a few miles from the Courthouse, since the 1700s. Over the years we have provided countless hours of community service, held public office, invested in the county, restored historic homes, and committed ourselves to improving our county. The New Kent Courthouse Village is one of those projects.

We have worked with the citizens and officials of the county on a comprehensive plan to concentrate residential growth in compact areas such as villages and hamlets. We looked at traffic patterns, recreation, location to schools, churches and government to design living and business spaces different than typical large housing and commercial developments. We weren’t interested in using up a lot of land, soliciting franchises or big-box businesses, or building new exclusive amenities only enjoyed by a few.

Instead, we visited, with our planners and architects, the small quaint villages and towns in New England, Switzerland, and finally, Kent, England, (our namesake). We went back to the past to design a living working community for the future. We looked at how the typical small town or village developed over years and attempted to create a timeless design that highlights craftsmanship and livability rather than profit or speed of construction.

Planners are using the term “new urbanism” to describe the new “villages” springing up all over the country. We use the term “new ruralism” to describe our desire and ability to use the features of our rural county that we hold dear and add those homes and businesses which are missing. And we do this in a way that uses much less land and helps maintain the rural nature of the county around us.

Our New Kent courthouse has been located on this site since 1691. All our government, court, school, and most of our recreation is located here. We have used what we have and added residential and commercial opportunities that allow you to easily be involved with our community, government, schools, history, and small business development.

New Kent Courthouse Village is walking distance from the Friday night football or basketball game, the tennis courts, soccer and softball/baseball fields. Eight golf courses are minutes away, and if you really want or need to go to the big city, you can be on the interstate and in the city within a short time too.

To accomplish all this we looked and found the best planners, engineers, architects, contractors and craftsmen, many local -- we wanted good people that have a stake in how this project is completed...people that would remain here long after the sales are done. We are not going anywhere and we will remain here, helping to guide our new residents and business owners for many years to come.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at our materials and read this letter. I hope that you will become a part of our community and help make New Kent a great place to live, work and play.

Sincerely,
John and Drexel Crump
New Kent Courthouse Village, LLC