Benson Lossing describes the origins of the the village of Schodack in The Hudson from the Wilderness to the Sea;
" About four miles below Castleton, is the village of Schodack, a derivation from the Mohegan word ischoda, 'a meadow, or fire-plain.' This was anciently the seat of the council fire of the Mohegans upon the Hudson. They extended their villages along the eastern bank of the stream, as high as Lansingburgh, and their hunting grounds occupied the entire counties of Columbia and Rensselaer."