First Inhabitants: The Mohican and Mohawk People [A1] 

Native Americans were living near the site of Fort Orange for thousands of years before Henry Hudson’s voyage in 1609. When Hudson arrived, he encountered established communities of Mohican and Mohawk peoples.

The Mohicans spoke the Algonquian language and lived in small villages along the North (Hudson) River during the spring and summer months and moved to inland camps during the fall and winter. After the spring floods, they would return to the fertile river bottoms. A typical village had several small houses, or wigwams. There were between 2,000 and 3,000 Mohicans living in the area by the early 1600s.

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