In pre-history, the Cherokee had a seat on the Peaks of the Otter nearby. A main trail went through Buford's Gap and Villamont, Virginia, roughly along the present highway to Roanoke, Virginia. Relics have been unearthed in the Goose Creek Valley, and tomahawk heads and stone arrowheads were found east of the village. The tribes may have traveled through Buford's Gap and on to either Tennessee or North Carolina along the Carolina Road and the Great Indian Warpath.