Editing Durham, North Carolina (section)

===Pre-establishment===
The [[Eno people|Eno]] and the [[Occaneechi|Occoneechi]], related to the [[Sioux]] and the [[Shakori]], lived in the area and may have established a village named Adshusheer (or Ajusher) in the area which became Durham.<ref>The Travels of Richard Traunter, page 38, ([1699], Sandra L. Dahlberg ed., University of Virginia Press, 2022).</ref> [[Trading Path|The Occaneechi Path]], a corridor of trading roads and trails, went through the area. Native Americans expanded the region by establishing settlements and commercial transportation routes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Overview of Durham History |url=https://www.museumofdurhamhistory.org/learn/overview-of-durham-history/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406053213/https://www.museumofdurhamhistory.org/learn/overview-of-durham-history/ |archive-date=2023-04-06 |access-date=2023-06-08 |publisher=Museum of Durham History |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=July 2020 |title=About Durham |url=https://law.nccu.edu/about/about-durham/ |access-date=2023-06-08 |publisher=NC Central University School of Law |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1701, English explorer [[John Lawson (explorer)|John Lawson]], documented the area and would later call it "the flower of the Carolinas". Lawson claimed that Ajusher was situated {{convert|14|mi}} from Occaneechi Town.<ref>John Lawson, A New Voyage to Carolina, page 62 ([1709] Hugh Talmage Lefler ed., Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina press, 1967).</ref> In the mid-1700s, Scots, Irish, and English colonists settled on land granted to [[George Carteret]] by [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]]{{dubious|Which Carteret and which king?|date=May 2024}}, a grant that had by then been inherited by his great-grandson [[John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville|John]]. Early settlers built settlements as well as farms and mills, like [[West Point Mill]].<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>

Frontiersmen in the area, prior to the [[American Revolutionary War]], participated in the [[Regulator Movement]]. Loyalist militia used Cornwallis Road to cut through the area in 1771 to quell the rebellion. William Johnston, a local a farmer and shopkeeper, made munitions for the [[Continental Army]], served in the [[North Carolina Provincial Congress|Provincial Congress]] in 1775, and financially supported [[Daniel Boone]] on his westward explorations.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>