Connecticut's western Housatonic River flows beside some of the state's most historic towns, such as Kent, New Milford, Brookfield, Danbury, Canaan Village and West Cornwall. The Housatonic, a Native American name meaning place beyond the mountains, begins in the Massachusetts Berkshires. As the river flows south its passes through the Housatonic State Forest, along the Appalachian Trail and southward through Connecticut's lowlands called Marble Valley. Eventually the river flows out into the Long Island Sound at Stratford Point and the Charles E. Wheeler Wildlife Area.