Footprints of the Red Men: Indian Geographical Names — Passage 33 (part 2)
[Edward Manning Ruttenber (1906)] The original was, no doubt, _Patuckquapaug,_ as in Greenwich, Ct., meaning "Round pond." The Dutch changed _paug_ to _paen_ descriptive of the land--low land--so we have, as it stands, "Round land," "elevated hassocks of earth, roots," etc. (See Patuckquapaug.) The second name is written in several forms--Taescameatuck, Taescameesick, and Gessmesseecks. _Greenbush_ is an anglicism of _Gran Bosch,_ Dutch, meaning, literally, "Green forest." The river bank was fringed by a long stretch of spruce-pine woods. Dutch settlement began here about 1631. In 1641 a ferry was established at the mouth of the _Tamisquesuck_ or Beaver Creek, and has since been maintained. About the same year a small fort, known as Fort Cralo, was constructed by Van Rensselaer's superintendent.