Lower Shawneetown: A Shawnee Town in Greenup County

Long before stations dotted the Bluegrass, one of the largest Native towns in the Ohio Valley stood partly on what is now Kentucky ground. English traders and mapmakers called it Lower Shawneetown.

Its own name is not known for certain. The Shawnee (opens in a new tab) who led it were mostly of the Chalahgawtha division, and the town may have been a Chillicothe, a word meaning "principal place." See the Shawnee divisions for more on those names.

Between about 1734 and 1758 the town was a center of trade and diplomacy. Shawnee, Iroquois, and Delaware people lived there together, and one observer called it "a sort of republic." By 1755 its population passed 1,200, among the largest Native communities in the Ohio Country.

It was also the western end of Pennsylvania's deerskin trade. William Trent and George Croghan kept storehouses in town, and hunters from dozens of villages brought in hides of deer, elk, bear, and beaver. In 1751 Christopher Gist visited while scouting for the Ohio Company, a trip told in Christopher Gist's journey.

The trade changed daily life. Archaeologists have found gun parts and flints, glass beads, brass kettles, knives, silver earrings, and even a Jew's harp. Iron pots replaced clay ones for boiling salt and maple sugar.

The town was also a place of captivity. In 1755 Mary Draper Ingles was brought there after a raid on her Virginia settlement. Her escape home through Kentucky is told in her own story.

A great flood in 1753 swept away much of the town, and people rebuilt across the valley. British traders were pushed out by the French in 1754. As the French and Indian War made the valley unsafe, the Shawnee left between April and November 1758 and moved north.

In Kentucky, the town's traces lie in Greenup County, mixed with older Fort Ancient village remains. Kentucky archaeologists (opens in a new tab) have found Fort Ancient pottery alongside mid-1700s European trade goods there.