|
Greenup County was founded in 1803, however hunters explored Greenup as early as 1669. Dr. Thomas Walker, was sent to explore Kentucky in 1784, by the Loyal Land Company for the English to colonize later. The first white person to walk into what is now known as Greenup County was Christopher Gist. Gist was sent by the Ohio Land Company to explore the land. Gist found a Shawnee town at the mouth of the Scioto River (where Portsmouth Ohio and South Portsmouth Kentucky stands today) on March 8, 1751. The settlement, called Lower Shawnee Town, was an Indian and white settlement. The settlement was on both sides of the Ohio River and made up of Shawnee Indians and French Fur traders. The settlement that stood in what is now South Portsmouth, Kentucky (on the Kentucky side) precedes that of Harrodsburg in 1774 and even Boonesboro in 1775, which makes Greenup County having the FIRST SETTLEMENT in Kentucky! As many as 205 people were killed by the Shawnee Indians in an ambush as they crossed the Ohio River to settle in Kentucky.
Greenup County was formed from Mason County in June 1803, Greenupsburg, the county seat was the center of activity for Kentucky.
|
|
