The Hudson River

09/28/26

“What’s so special about New York City’s main river?”

New York City is a metropolis built off water (and stolen Indigenous land/Black labor). Its main river, The Hudson River, has some very special properties. Originating from Henderson lake in the Adirondack Mountains, the Hudson river darts out around 507 km/315 miles through New York State to the Atlantic Ocean. The Indigenous Munssee People called the lower portion of the Hudson (starting from around what’s now Albany) Muhheacannituck, or “the waters that are never still” or, less rigidly, “the river that flows two ways” since the subriver is a tidal estuary. Specifically, Muhheacannituck/the lower Hudson has two high tides and two low tides a day, reversing direction four times a day/every six hours. The Hudson River connects with the Erie Canal to Lake Erie, allowing for sea-based transportation from the Midwest. During the Ice Age, the Hudson River went on for much longer, as evidenced by the Hudson Shelf Valley and the Hudson Canyon.