South Portsmouth is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Greenup County,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, United States. South Portsmouth is located on the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

across from

Portsmouth, Ohio Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. ...

and west of

South Shore, Kentucky South Shore is a home rule-class city in Greenup County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,122 at the 2010 census, down from 1,226 in 2000. It is located along the Ohio River across from Portsmouth, Ohio, at the mouth of Tygarts Cr ...

Kentucky Route 8 Kentucky Route 8 is a east–west state highway divided into two distinct segments across northern Kentucky. The western terminus of the route is at KY 237 near Francisville. The eastern terminus is at U.S. Route 23 in South Portsmouth. ...

passes through the community. South Portsmouth was originally called Springville due to the numerous springs in the area. Springville was incorporated as a town on March 3, 1876. The

Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond ...

built a track through the community in the early 1900s. Subsequently the name of the community was changed to South Portsmouth, presumably to indicate its location and strengthen its connection with

, a city of more than 20,000 people.
Scholar Works, Morehead State University An

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

train station, South Portsmouth-South Shore station, is located just east of South Portsmouth. South Portsmouth is the site of an 18th-Century

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Indian village called

Lower Shawneetown Lower Shawneetown, also known as Shannoah or Sonnontio, was an 18th-century Shawnee village located within the Lower Shawneetown Archeological District, near South Portsmouth in Greenup County, Kentucky and Lewis County, Kentucky. The population ...

Notable person

* Charles Kinney (1850-1918) -

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Secretary of State

References

Unincorporated communities in Kentucky Unincorporated communities in Greenup County, Kentucky Kentucky populated places on the Ohio River {{GreenupCountyKY-geo-stub