prior to henry hudson's arrival in 1609, the wappinger people lived on the eastern shore of the today's hudson river, a tidal estuary for some half its length. to them, it was the "muhheakantuck", "the river that flows both ways", and their territory spread from manhattan island north to the roeliff jansen kill in columbia county, and east as far as the norwalk river fairfield county, connecticut. the wappinger were allied with the mahican people to the north. their settlements included camps along the major creeks and hudson river tributaries with larger villages located where these streams met the river.