Portsmouth is a city in Scioto County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in southern Ohio 41 miles (66 km) south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky and just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. The population was 18,252 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Portsmouth micropolitan area.
At a Glance
- County: Scioto County
- County seat of Scioto County
- State: Ohio
History of Portsmouth
The area was occupied by Native Americans as early as 100 BC, as indicated by the Portsmouth Earthworks, a ceremonial center built by the Ohio Hopewell culture between 100 and 500 AD.
According to early 20th century historian Charles Augustus Hanna, a Shawnee village was founded at the site of modern day Portsmouth in late 1758, following the abandonment of Lower Shawneetown.
European Americans began to settle in the 1790s after the American Revolutionary War, and the small town of Alexandria was founded. Located at the confluence, Alexandria was flooded numerous times by the Ohio River and the Scioto River.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Portsmouth, Ohio, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.