Port William, Kentucky is a fictional American rural town found in each of the novels and short stories[1] and some of the poems[2] of Wendell Berry.
There are to date eight novels, fifty-six short stories, a verse drama, and seventeen poems that touch on the people and life of the place.
Within these stories a reader encounters both momentous and ordinary events in the lives of the Beechum, Feltner, Coulter, and Catlett families, individuals of which, along with others, make up the Port William membership.
"[9] Far from an exclusive circle, membership in Port William comes to mean exactly the opposite: the grateful inclusion of any who live in devotion to the wellbeing of the town and its environs.
The Port William Membership exists not only in the novels and short fiction of Wendell Berry but also in some poems that have appeared over the years.
Jack Beechum in "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970) and "Work Song" in Clearing (1977), and Collected Poems 1957-1982 Kate Helen Branch in "Burley Coulter's Song for Kate Helen Branch" in Given (2005) Andy Catlett in "1989, V" in A Timbered Choir: The Sabath Poems 1979-1997 and "In Art Rowanberry's Barn" in Given (2005) Flora Catlett in "What Passes, What Remains" (Sabbaths 2016, VIII) in The Art of Loading Brush (2017) Henry Catlett in "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970) Burley Coulter in "Window Poem" (section 27) in Openings (1968), Collected Poems 1957-1982, and The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry (1998); "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970); "1989, V" in A Timbered Choir: The Sabath Poems 1979-1997; "Burley Coulter's Song for Kate Helen Branch" in Given (2005); and "Sabbaths 2000, VI" in Given (2005) Jarrat Coulter in "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970) Nathan Coulter in "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970) Jayber Crow in "Sabbaths 2004, IV" in Given (2005) and "Old Man Jayber Crow" in Leavings (2010) Hannah Feltner in "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970) Little Margaret (Feltner) in "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970) Margaret Feltner in "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970) Mat Feltner in "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970) and "Work Song" in Clearing (1977) and Collected Poems 1957-1982 Virgil Feltner in "The Bringer of Water" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970) Billy (Gibbs?