Portsmouth

About PortsmouthAt the confluence of the Ohio and Scioto rivers, Portsmouth was a manufacturing center where steel and clay products were made for more than 100 years. The Ohio & Erie Canal that once ran from Cleveland to Portsmouth impacted the development of the area, but the great flood of 1913 terminated canal use in this region. Many of the city's 19th-century buildings are restored, including structures in the Boneyfiddle District.

Portsmouth was the boyhood home of motion picture and television cowboy star Roy Rogers, who was born in Cincinnati in 1911 but lived here most of his first 17 years, and of baseball great Branch Rickey, who broke the major league baseball color barrier in 1947 when he signed Jackie Robinson to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Both men are depicted in the 2,000-foot-long Portsmouth Floodwall Murals along Front Street on the Ohio River; the 50-plus scenes chronicle more than 2,000 years of Portsmouth and Scioto County history.

Shawnee State Park, which occupies former Shawnee hunting grounds, lies west; phone (740) 858-6621.

Visitor Centers Portsmouth - Scioto County Visitors Bureau 342 2nd St. Portsmouth, OH 45662. Phone:(740)353-1116

ShoppingAntique shops are found in Boneyfiddle Historic District.

Things to Do Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center