 The region was largely uninhabited when Lower Shawneetown was founded in the early 18th century.Established in the mid-1730s at the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers, this was one of the earliest known Shawnee settlements on both sides of the Ohio River.The Shawnee name of the town was not recorded, but scholars believe it may have been "Chalahgawtha," a Shawnee word meaning "principal place".