Harrodsburg, Kentucky

Harrodsburg is a home rule-class city in Mercer County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 8,340 at the 2010 census.

Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the House of Burgesses after Boonesborough and was not incorporated by the Kentucky legislature until 1836, it is usually considered the oldest city in Kentucky and has been honored as the oldest permanent American settlement west of the Appalachians.

History

Harrodstown (sometimes Harrod's Town) was laid out and founded by its namesake James Harrod on June 16, 1774. Amid Dunmore's War, the settlement was abandoned later the same year as a result of Native American attacks, but it was resettled a year later in 1775. Fear of attacks from the Native Americans during the American Revolutionary War left it one of only three settlements in Kentucky after 1777, along with Logan's Fort and Boonesborough. Also known as Oldtown, Harrodstown was the first seat of Virginia's Kentucky (1776), Lincoln (1780), and Mercer (1785) counties upon their formations. It remains the seat of Mercer County in Kentucky.