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 When the Half Moon anchored in the Hudson in 1609, a group of Native Americans called the Wappingers, sometimes known as the "River Indians," inhabited the east bank of the Hudson River. They cultivated, hunted, and fished for shellfish in the rich land of the Hudson Valley. They often encountered Dutch traders, from which they obtained goods in return for beaver pelts--they also were exposed to disease, alcohol and firearms, untimately decimating their people. In 1691, a group of Dutch traders purchased an area of land that is now known as Putnam County from the Wappingers for a large amount of money. Six years later, the traders sold it to Adolph Philipse who was a wealthy merchant, who then obtained a royal patent for land extending all the way from the Hudson to the Connecticut border, an area to beknown as the Philipse Patent. Today, Putnam County offers some of the most dramatic views of the of the Hudson River. From Cold Spring and Garrison Landing--opposite the U.S. Military Acadamy at West Point and one of the narrowest points of the river--experience beautiful vistas of the Hudson Highlands the way Henry Hudson would have as he sailed past these points. |
