Surrounded by the Township of Rideau Lakes, within Leeds County, Westport is Ontario's smallest municipality (by land area).

The land on which Westport now sits was originally granted by the Crown to a Mr. Hunter, but he never settled in the area and it was eventually purchased by Reuben Sherwood in 1817.

[4] Like much of the surrounding area, Westport received a large number of Irish immigrants in the 1840s through the 1860s, following the Great Famine.

The building of the Rideau Canal allowed goods to be shipped north to Ottawa and south to Kingston.

In June 2013, longtime Mayor Bill Thake died of a stroke at age 77; the village council appointed councillor Dan Grunig to take his place in July and called an election for September 30 to fill the vacant councillor's seat.

Elected as mayor is Robin Jones,[5] In June, 2021, Westport celebrated its first Pride Week.

[9] Population trend:[10][11][12][1] Mother tongue:[11] A public wharf on a man-made island has dock space for up to 30 vessels.

Westport is part of PorchFest, featuring its own local festival in late September, named WestPORCH.

WestPORCH is a free community festival, which began in 2021, it was created by John Pringle & Trevor Connell.