Westport, KY

Westport is a census-designated place on the Ohio River in Oldham County, with a 2020 population of 253. The community's post office, ZIP Code 40077, opened in 1815. It sits at the mouth of Eighteenmile Creek, where the river meets roads coming out of north-central Kentucky. Oldham County's farm country rises behind the shoreline, while the water points toward Indiana and the wider Ohio River trade route.

Westport began as Liberty on land tied to an 1780 grant to Elijah Craig, then developed into a river town after lots were laid out in the 1790s. A ferry crossed to Indiana by 1800, steamboats called regularly, and Westport served as Oldham County's first seat before the offices moved to La Grange. The railroad bypassed the town, river traffic faded, and an 1884 flood destroyed 27 buildings. Hurricane Hall and Clifton recall the years when prominent families built on the bluff. Today the community remains in Oldham County School District, with the river and old road pattern doing most of the talking.