The most heavily traveled road in Colonial America passed through here, linking areas from the Great Lakes to Augusta, GA. It was laid on ancient animal and Native American trading and warrior paths. Indian treaties among the governors of NY, PA, and VA and the 19 chiefs of the Iroquois League of Five Nations in 1685 and 1722 opened the colonial backcountry for peaceful settlement and colonization. In VA, at the Great Salt Lick, the path forked, and the branch to the west and into TN was known as the Great Wilderness Road to Nashville.