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 eventually occupied areas on both sides of the Ohio River, and along both sides of the Scioto River in what is now Scioto County, Ohio.: 835 It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 28 April 1983. It is near the Bentley site, a Madisonville Horizon settlement inhabited between 1400 CE and 1625 CE. Nearby, to the east, there are also four groups of Hopewell tradition mounds, built between 100 BCE and 500 CE, known as the Portsmouth Earthworks.
Bronze historical marker near site | |
Approximate location within Kentucky today | |
| Location | South Portsmouth, Kentucky, Greenup County, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, USA |
|---|---|
| Region | Greenup County, Kentucky and Scioto County, Ohio |
| Coordinates | 38°43′17.76″N 83°1′22.98″W |
| History | |
| Founded | C. 1733 |
| Abandoned | November, 1758 |
| Cultures | Shawnee people |
| Site notes | |
| Archaeologists | A. Gwynn Henderson |
| Architecture | |
| Architectural details | Number of monuments: |
Lower Shawneetown | |
| NRHP reference No. | 83002784 |
| Added to NRHP | 28 April 1983 |
Extensive archaeological work has provided a clear picture of the town's appearance and activities, particularly the nature of trade, social organization, agriculture, and relationships with other Native American communities. Well-known British traders William Trent and George Croghan maintained trading posts in the town with large warehouses to store furs, skins, and other goods.
Between about 1734 and 1758 Lower Shawneetown became a center for commerce and diplomacy, "a sort of republic": 11–12 populated mainly by Shawnee, Iroquois, and Delawares. By 1755, its population exceeded 1,200, making it one of the largest Native American communities in the Ohio Country, second only to Pickawillany. The size and diversity of the town's population attracted both French and British traders, leading to political competition between France and Britain to influence the community in the years preceding the French and Indian War. The town remained politically neutral in spite of frequent visits by French, British and Native American leaders. Several English captives, including Mary Draper Ingles and Samuel Stalnaker, were held captive in Lower Shawneetown in the 1750s.
Lower Shawneetown was abandoned in 1758 to avoid colonial American raids during the French and Indian War, and was relocated further up the Scioto River to the Pickaway Plains.