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Godfrey is a small community located about 40 minutes' drive time north of Kingston, Ontario, Canada on Hwy. 38. It is named for Chester H. Godfrey, one of the original settlers, who donated land on which the village was built. While there is currently no specific village, it can be described as the area of Highway 38 that extends between the villages of Verona and Parham, as well as that portion of Westport Road extending to the hamlet of Burridge. It also includes the former settlement of Cole Lake. (which possessed a separate rail station, known as Hinchinbrooke Station, and postal outlet up to the early part of the 20th century). Godfrey was originally in the Township of Hinchinbrooke which has since become amalgamated into the township of Central Frontenac, which also encompasses the townships of Kennebec, Olden and Oso.

The place currently known as Godfrey was founded as "Deniston" on 10 October 1854, based on the placement of a post office by the same name. Locals referred to the place as "Iron Ore Junction", The place was renamed to Godfrey on 1 April 1878

Chester Godfrey inherited the land on the 3rd Concession in Hinchinbrooke Township that became the town, Godfrey, bearing his namesake. He inherited this land from his father, Warren Godfrey when his father moved on to Olden Township. Warren Godfrey applied for land patent for the land in December 1843 to the Governor General of British North America, Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe. The land patent was granted on 21 March 1844. Warren Godfrey Land Patent Warren Godfrey was also the construction supervisor of 41 miles of the Frontenac Road in Hinchenbrooke Township, northward through Olden and Clarendon Townships to the intersection of the Mississippi Road. First settlers to the area were John McKnight, James Hickey, Michael Judge, James Hill, Terry Nefcey and James Kennedy. First babies born to the new settlers were James Hickey and Ned Judge in 1837; born the same day only minutes apart. Joe Howes however, continued to run the store and eventually transferred the business to his son, Richard (Dick) Howes. The store closed in 1981; the end of the era of the General Store.

The Kingston and Pembroke Railway established the Bedford Station in Godfrey, opening in 1875. As many as eight trains would come into the station daily. The Zanesville mine operators found sulphur mixed with the ore at a depth of 180 feet and ceased mine operations until they were able to use drills that enabled them to mine to a depth of 300–400 feet and low sulphur content (one to three percent) ore was again discovered. However, by 1895, the mine was no longer in operation. Other mines in the area were the Howse Mine, and Black Lake Mine.

In 1901, Feldspar was also found in abundance near Godfrey. It was mined and shipped to the United States via the Bedford K&P Station. The feldspar was mined at the Richardson Feldspar Mine which ultimately became the largest producer of feldspar in Canada: producing 228,690 tons of feldspar between 1901 and 1951. The mine, located in concession II, lot 1, is found between Thirteen Island Lake and Desert Lake. In the 1880s, mining rights were acquired by the Kingston Feldspar Mining Company, part of what is now James Richardson & Sons, Limited. Mining did not start in earnest until the early 1900s. The mine was also known as the Desert Lake or Hoppins Property, as Richardson leased the land from owner, A. Hoppins. and 130 tons per day in 1906, and represented, at the time, the largest feldspar producing mine in the province. This was evidently made possible by the accessibility of ore in the mine, as reported in 1903, "feldspar covers the floor of this whole mine area, practically all of it clean and pure". The feldspar mined at this site was analyzed By the Ontario Bureau of Mines in 1905 to have the following composition: silica 66.23%, alumina 18.77%, potash 12.09% and soda 3.11%. Descriptively, it was reported to be "rich, light red [in] colour, remarkably well formed, with well developed cleavage, lustrous, translucent and pronounced to be microline". The ore was then moved to Kingston and across Lake Ontario to the United States. Of the mica mined in Ontario, 90 95% of it was used in the electric industry. This was true until the depression of 1907 stalled the electric trades which caused a drop in the mica mining trades in the province. Those supporting the mica industry were directly affected; for example, mica producers dropped in Ottawa from 1,500 persons to less than 100. Mica was not mined again in Godfrey until about 1940 in some small quantity. The Godfrey mine is now classified as "past producing without reserves".

In 1840, a one room log school house was opened to teach the children in new community of Deniston. The log school was replaced by another school in 1901. When originally built, Hill School, would have been part of the school system in Hinchinbrooke, in the County of Frontenac. The residents of Hinchinbrooke had been trying throughout the mid 1800s to improve their educational potential given their meager resources, as evidenced in 1860, when superintendent of schools, Thomas R. Dupuis, esq, commented in his annual report: "This is a back Township, and very poor, and the schools are proportionally small and badly provided with teachers and means of teaching. However, there is a marked increase in attendance, and an improvement in the state of schools. From the interest taken in school matters, and the energy displayed by the officers of the section, it promises to become one of the most flourishing sections of the township. " The issue of free education was not missed on the residents of this "back Township", whereby as early as 1858, three quarters of the schools in Hinchinbrooke were free. The others required 25 cents per pupil per month but tuition from the pupil was rarely collected in full measure.

Godfrey is a part of South Frontenac and Central Frontenac Townships as of the 1998 amalgamation of the Townships of Hinchinbrooke, Kennebec, Olden and Oso. Local Postal Code is K0H 1T0 and the Godfrey Canada Post location is 8109 County Road 38.