Norfolk County is included in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area.

[5] The convention met at Gay's Tavern in Dedham on December 12, 1780, and adopted a resolution to the effect that the towns of Bellingham, Dedham, Foxborough, Franklin, Medfield, Medway, Needham, Stoughton, Stoughtonham, Walpole, and Wrentham, along with the Middlesex County towns of Holliston, Hopkinton, Natick, and Sherborn ought to be formed into a new county with Medfield as the shiretown.

Legislation passed in March which separated off all the towns in Suffolk County except Boston and Chelsea (which at the time included what are now Revere and Winthrop).

No other changes have been made to the territory of Norfolk County, other than new municipalities being created within its boundaries, and minor border adjustments.

"[8] Following the creation of the county, Gay's Tavern was the site of a Court of General Sessions on August 25, 1794.

[9] On the last day of September following this order, the court accepted from Timothy Gay[a] the gift of a parallelogram lot of land to erect the Norfolk County Jail next to his tavern.

[13][14] Part of the jail was torn down in 1851 to erect a central, octagonal portion and two wings.

[13][14] It resulted in a building with the shape of a Latin cross, and featured Gothic Revival windows.

[14] There were two hangings in the central rotunda: George C. Hersey on August 8, 1862 and James H. Costley on June 25, 1875.

[14] The current Norfolk County Correctional Center is located on the median of Route 128 in Dedham.

[11][b] When the court met on January 7, 1794, it was so cold in the building, which lacked any sort of heating, that they moved to the Woodward Tavern across the street.

[11] The First Church and Parish in Dedham then offered a piece of land on their Little Common, and a new courthouse was ordered to be constructed.

[19] Charles Bulfinch was hired in 1795 to design a turret for the building and Paul Revere was commissioned to cast a bell.

[21] They originally were seeking a utilitarian building that would be fireproof and safe to store important documents.

[21] Local boosters, however, wanted a building that aligned with the town's rapidly improving self-image.

[21] Masonic ceremonies, bell ringing and cannon fire accompanied the laying of the cornerstone on July 4, 1825.

[18][21] It was a basic rectangular granite-walled structure, 48' by 98' and two stories tall,[18] with Greek-temple porticoes at either end.

[18] A bell made by Paul Revere was moved from the old courthouse to the new north portico, where it was tolled to announce court sessions.

[21] One employee complained that it was "barren and destitute of every convenience, demanded for health, comfort and decency.

[24] The Registry was originally housed in one of the first floor rooms of the home of Eliphalet Pond, the first registrar, at 963 Washington Street in Dedham.

[27] A sign was nailed to a tree out front informing the public of its location.

[27] When the new Norfolk County Courthouse was built in 1827, the middle office on the west side of the lower level was used by the Registry.

[27] The Boston firm Peabody & Stearns was hired to design the current Registry of Deeds, built in 1905.

The main section of the building measures 52 feet by 186 feet, is two stories high with a copper hipped roof, and is built of Indiana limestone with details made of granite from Deer Isle, Maine.

The last time it voted for a Republican presidential candidate was in 1984, during Ronald Reagan's landslide victory in which he carried every state except Minnesota and the district of Washington, D.C.