Editing Rockville, Maryland (section)

===Early history===
Situated in the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] region and crossed by three [[Stream|creeks]] ([[Rock Creek (Potomac River)|Rock Creek]], [[Cabin John Creek]], and [[Watts Branch (Potomac River)|Watts Branch]]), Rockville provided an excellent refuge for semi-[[nomad]]ic [[Native Americans of the United States|Native Americans]] as early as 8000 BC. By the [[first millennium BC]], a few of these groups had settled down into year-round [[agricultural]] communities that exploited the native flora, including [[sunflower]]s and marsh elder. By AD 1200, these early groups (dubbed ''Montgomery Indians'' by later [[archaeologists]]) were increasingly drawn into conflict with the [[Senecas]] and [[Susquehannock]]s who had migrated south from [[Pennsylvania]] and [[New York (state)|New York]]. Within the present-day boundaries of the city, six prehistoric sites have been uncovered and documented, along with numerous artifacts several thousand years old. By 1700, under pressure from [[Europe]]an colonists, the majority of these original inhabitants had been driven away.

The indigenous population carved a path on the high ground, known as Sinequa Trail, which is now downtown Rockville. Later, the Maryland Assembly set the standard of 20 feet for main thoroughfares and designated the Rock Creek Main Road or Great Road to be built to this standard. In the mid-18th century, Lawrence Owen opened a small inn on the road. The place, known as Owen's Ordinary, took on greater prominence when, on April 14, 1755, Major General [[Edward Braddock]] stopped at Owen's Ordinary on a start of a mission from George Town (now Washington, D.C.) to press British claims of the western frontier. The location of the road, near the present Rockville Pike, was strategically located on higher ground, making it dry year-round.<ref name='McGuckian'>{{cite book
| author= McGuckian, Eileen S.
| title=Rockville: Portrait of a City
| location= Franklin, Tennessee | publisher=Hillsboro Press
| year=2001
| isbn = 1-57736-235-7
}}</ref>{{Rp|6–9}}