Port Royal is an unincorporated community in northeastern Henry County, Kentucky, United States. It is about 10 miles north of New Castle and about one mile from the Kentucky River.
Port Royal has the ZIP code 40058.
Port Royal existed by the 1830s. In 1836, the United States Congress approved a postal route between New Castle and Port Royal. The Port Royal post office opened in 1837.
In 1848, historian Lewis Collins wrote that Port Royal had two stores, a tavern, a tannery and four mechanics' shops.
Port Royal was still an important meeting place for people in the surrounding farming area during the 20th century. In an oral history interview, writer Wendell Berry remembered people gathering in Port Royal on Saturday nights when he was young.
Writer and farmer Wendell Berry returned to the Port Royal area in 1965. He and his wife bought a farm there, and the community became important in his writing. Berry created the fictional Kentucky community of Port William for many of his novels and stories. The National Endowment for the Humanities says Port William is widely understood to be based on Port Royal.