---
title: "Lower Shawneetown: A Shawnee Town in Greenup County"
slug: "lower-shawneetown-greenup-county"
url: "https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/lower-shawneetown-greenup-county/"
era: "Native nations"
years: "1751–1758"
coordinates: "38.7° N, 83.0° W"
coordinates_precision: "approximate (rounded to 0.1 deg / ~11 km to protect a sensitive archaeological or cultural site)"
license: "CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)"
---

# Lower Shawneetown: A Shawnee Town in Greenup County

> In Greenup County, Lower Shawneetown was a major Shawnee town of the mid-1700s in the Ohio Valley, shown as Lower Shawneetown on English maps.

## At a glance

- **When:** 1751–1758
- **People:** Christopher Gist; Mary Draper Ingles; William Trent
- **Coordinates:** 38.7° N, 83.0° W *(Approximate area — rounded to 0.1° to protect a sensitive site)*

## The story

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](https://grokipedia.com/page/Shawnee) 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](https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/shawnee-chillicothe-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](https://kyhistorydrive.com/people/#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](https://kyhistorydrive.com/people/#christopher-gist) visited while scouting for the Ohio Company, a trip told in [Christopher Gist's journey](https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/christopher-gist-1750-51/).

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](https://kyhistorydrive.com/people/#mary-draper-ingles) was brought there after a raid on her Virginia settlement. Her escape home through Kentucky is told in [her own story](https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/mary-draper-ingles-escapes-through-kentucky-1755/).

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](https://archaeology.ky.gov/Find-a-Site/Pages/Lower-Shawneetown.aspx) have found Fort Ancient pottery alongside mid-1700s European trade goods there.

## Kentucky today

The Lower Shawneetown Archeological District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It is protected ground with no public site to visit. Floodwall murals across the river in Ohio picture the town's story.

## People in this story

- **[Christopher Gist](https://kyhistorydrive.com/people/#christopher-gist)** — Ohio Company explorer
- **[Mary Draper Ingles](https://kyhistorydrive.com/people/#mary-draper-ingles)** — Captive who escaped through Kentucky 1755
- **[William Trent](https://kyhistorydrive.com/people/#william-trent)** — Ohio Company trader

## Sources & research notes

### Sources

1. Grokipedia: Shawnee on Grokipedia [web] — https://grokipedia.com/page/Shawnee
2. Kentucky Archaeological Survey: Lower Shawneetown on Kentucky Archaeology [web] — https://archaeology.ky.gov/Find-a-Site/Pages/Lower-Shawneetown.aspx
3. Lower Shawneetown on Wikipedia [web] — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Shawneetown
4. Grokipedia: Greenup County, Kentucky on Grokipedia [web] — https://grokipedia.com/page/Greenup_County,_Kentucky

---

Cite as: "Lower Shawneetown: A Shawnee Town in Greenup County." Kentucky History Drive. https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/lower-shawneetown-greenup-county/ Text licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.