Interstate 71 runs 4 miles (6 km) south of the city roughly parallel to US 42, with access from Exit 44.

Port William was renamed Carrollton after Declaration of Independence signer Charles Carroll and became the seat of the new county.

On September 3, 1863, during the Civil War, Confederates robbed the Southern Bank of Kentucky and were followed by the Union Army.

Confederates also stole the sword of prominent resident William Orlando Butler, and he later caught up with the troops and retrieved it.

[9] It has one of the state's largest tobacco markets, and the population has remained steady since being recorded at 3,884 in the 1970 census.

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

[15] Berry uses Carrollton's original name, Port William, as the name for the town in which most of his stories take place.

Unlike the largely egalitarian rural society of Port William, there is an "upper crust" of professionals and landowners in Hargrave.