South Portsmouth is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Greenup County,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, United States. South Portsmouth is located on the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

across from

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

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 C ...

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, Kentucky, Francisville. The eastern terminus is at U.S. Route 2 ...

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 Railway 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 Potter Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Rich ...

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 intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

train station, South Portsmouth-South Shore station, was formerly located in South Portsmouth. The station was moved to South Shore as part of the construction of the Carl D. Perkins Memorial Bridge. South Portsmouth is the site of an 18th-century

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

Indian village called Lower Shawneetown.

Notable person

* Charles Kinney (1850–1918) -

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Secretary of State

References

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