[3] Trials were held in the building until 1980, when a new 2.5 million dollar municipal complex containing courts, county offices and a jail was constructed in Kentville.

When the courthouse closed in 1980, the society successfully campaigned to save it from demolition and restore it to serve as a county museum.

Little of the original finish remained but a local resident named Brad Forsyth, who had learned the technique from his father, repainted and restored the room's panelling, complete with secret figures of birds and animals hidden in grain patterns.

Working out of the former registry vaults of the courthouse basement, a Family History Committee built a large research centre for genealogists and successfully recorded and indexed every grave in Kings County.

Parks Canada selected the museum to permanently host its National New England Planters Commemorative Exhibit in 1989.

[10] However the Kings County Museum has faced challenges in recent years such as declining government support and a drop in tourism visitation in rural Nova Scotia.