The area was first settled in 1772 by Richard and Samuel Swayze of
New Jersey, who purchased of land. A number of families from New Jersey followed and were known as the "Jersey Settlers", of whom actors
William Holden and
Patrick Swayze were descendants. In 1773, Samuel Swayze, a
Congregational pastor, organized what was then the first Protestant church in British West Florida. The church lasted only until his death in 1784. Gibson said he "went to Kingston and procured a spot of ground by selling my watch for a meeting house." The
Kingston Methodist Church was built from logs in about 1802, and its deed was the first issued to a church of the Protestant faith in Mississippi (then called the
Mississippi Territory). In 1822, Caleb King's son-in-law Daniel Farrar donated a plot of land where a brick church was built. Kingston was prosperous from 1800 to 1824, when it had three stores and a number of shops, with a population of about 150. A tornado in 1840 destroyed most of Kingston. By the early 1900s, all that remained of Kingston was a doctor's office, the church, and one dwelling. ==Present day==