Template:Wp-Prince Edward County, Ontario-History

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Long settled by indigenous peoples, the county has significant archeological sites. These include the LeVescounte Mounds of the Point Peninsula complex people, built about 2000 years ago.

The county was created by Upper Canada's founding lieutenant-governor John Graves Simcoe on July 16, 1792. It was named after Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (the fourth son of King George III and father of Queen Victoria) who was commander-in-chief of British North America.

Shortly after the American Revolution, the Crown made land grants to some of the earliest United Empire Loyalists to encourage their settlements in Ontario and provide compensation for property lost in the Thirteen Colonies. The county was originally composed of three townships named in honour of three of George III's daughters.

For many years Prince Edward County has been closely associated with the wholly mainland Hastings County. Its longtime militia unit has been The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (locally known as the Hasty Ps), whose most famous member was Farley Mowat. This noted author wrote two books about his experiences with the Hasty Ps during the Second World War's Italian Campaign: The Regiment and a subsequent account, And No Birds Sang.

On January 1, 1998, the Town of Picton, the villages of Bloomfield and Wellington, and the townships of Ameliasburgh, Athol, Hallowell, Hillier, North Marysburgh, Sophiasburgh, and South Marysburgh amalgamated to form a new city with the official legal name of Prince Edward County. Each of the former municipalities is now a ward.

Former municipalities

The following are former municipalities:

• Ameliasburgh, named after Princess Amelia, youngest daughter of George III
• Athol
• Bloomfield
• Hallowell, named after Captain Benjamin Hallowell (1723–1799)), eminent Loyalist, formerly of Boston. He was the father-in-law of Chief Justice John Elmsley.
• Hillier, organized in 1823, and named after Major George Hillier, military secretary to Sir Peregrine Maitland.
• North Marysburgh, surveyed in 1785 and settled by Loyalist veterans, some of Hessian birth. Named for Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh, one of George III's daughters.
• Sophiasburgh, named for Princess Sophia, one of George III's daughters. Surveyed in 1785 and 1787, settled by Loyalists from Nova Scotia and the Mainland.
• South Marysburgh, also named for Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh, one of George III's daughters.
• Picton, named for Sir Thomas Picton
• Wellington, named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington