Mission

The Portland Museum is an educational resource that exists to collect, preserve, exhibit, interpret and enhance the culture and heritage of Portland.

About Us:

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, provides operating support to Portland Museum, Inc. with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Portland Museum is a private, not-for-profit agency “where art and heritage celebrate community.”

Explore Louisville’s river heritage through vivid dioramas, life-sized characters, automated sound track, documentaries, and much more at the Portland Museum.

Discover the Portland neighborhood, once an independent town below the Falls of the Ohio, through walking tours, restored historic properties, archaeology and interpretation at Portland Wharf Park, art exhibits, programs, and heritage events. 

Founded in 1978 by elementary school teachers, Portland Museum grew from a single classroom to its present location in Beech Grove, an antebellum “country seat” on the old road between Portland and Louisville. The Museum also owns, and is restoring, the Squire Earick House, an American Treasure, that may be the oldest house in Portland.