Kingston is a small village where all the formal administrative buildings, government buildings and Government House are located.

The town dates from 1788. The modern town, as laid out by the Royal Engineers during the 1830s, consists of a Roman-style grid planwith two long east west roads.

Kingston is in the centre of the Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List on 31 July 2010.

The tombstones in the cemetary read like a who’s who of Norfolk Island history. There are convicts from the First Fleet, soldiers and sailors, descendants of Bounty mutineers, and residents such as novelist Colleen McCullough, buried here.