Sentence:  Along Wappinger Creek in Dutchess County , past the white church at Fishkill , past Verplanck 's Point on the east <WSD>bank</WSD> of the Hudson , to the white salt crusted roads of the Long Island Rockaways there was a watching and an activity of preparing for something explosive to happen . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  sloping land (especially the slope beside a body of water)