Port William, Kentucky is a fictional American rural town found in each of the novels and short stories[1] and some of the poems[2] of Wendell Berry. The larger region, set along the western bank of the Kentucky River, consists of Port William proper and several outlying farms and settlements around the also-fictional Dawe's Landing, Squire's Landing, Goforth, and Cotman Ridge. The town is set about "twelve miles or better"[3] south of the fictional town of Hargrave and the Ohio River.
It is generally acknowledged that Port William is a fiction inspired by Berry's own hometown of Port Royal, Kentucky. An actual town of Port William, Kentucky was established at the confluence of the Kentucky and Ohio rivers in 1792.[4][5] That name was changed to Carrollton in 1838.[6] Its location on the Ohio River relates it to Berry's larger fictional town of Hargrave.
- ^ "Port William: The Stories". Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
- ^ "Port William: The Poetry". Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky.
- ^ Wendell Berry. Jayber Crow, Washington, D.C., Counterpoint, 2000. p. 240
- ^ Kenny, Daniel J. (1875). Illustrated Cincinnati: A Pictorial Hand-book of the Queen City, Comprising Its Architecture, Manufacture, Trade; Its Social, Literary, Scientific, and Charitable Institutions; Its Churches, Schools and Colleges; and All Other Principal Points of Interest to the Visitor and Resident, Together with an Account of the Most Attractive Suburbs. Stevens.
- ^ "Shelton & Kensett's Map Of The State Of Indiana". www.davidrumsey.com. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ "Carrollton KY". www.carrolltonky.net. Retrieved 2024-06-07.