Indian Paths in the Great Metropolis
This point, which was partly inundated at high tide, and nearly surrounded by the waters of the creek, was known to the Indians as Gowahasuasing, denoting "a place hedged in." The sheltered side of Inwood hill was a most desirable place for native residence, and extensive debris discovered on all favorable sites testifies to their long-continued occupancy. The mouth of Spuyten Duyvil creek bounds the hill on the north and partly on the east, and this portion of the waterway was included in the name applied by the natives to the locality, Shorakapkok, which Mr Harrington suggests may be from shaphakeyeu-aki, referring to a "wet-ground place." The principal station appears to have been a village (15) situated at the base of the east side of Inwood hill, along the present Seaman avenue, where a number of the native dead were also interred. This must have been reached by a bypath.