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The Wilderness Road is perhaps one of the most famous and significant pathways in all of American history. The Road played a vital role in early frontier life and westward expansion in the United States. The Road began as a buffalo trail made by the great herds that once roamed the hills of Central Appalachia. Cherokee and Shawnee warriors used it as a game trail and as a convenient pathway to launch raids on one another for many generations. The native name for the path was Athowominee, meaning "Path of the Armed Ones".