Duane - without opening a dictionary, real or virtual: A "point" along any shoreline would be understood as a pointed protrusion of the land into the water. It is usually caused by currents that change direction for one reason or another, washing away the bank before a rock formation or a colliding current bends the flow. Along oceans or big lakes there are many as well. Point Lobos in Central-South California is a spectacular one, formed by the cold Alaska current encounters the swirl of the tropical current from south. My favorite, though, is the coastal state park in Oregon called "Hug Point." No visitors' center, no snackbar, small parking area. Quarelling couples driving route 101 are fools if they don't stop there, walk down to the beach separately or together for a stroll, then break out a picnic lunch, hug, and find they're no longer angry. I've watched it happen. --------- I assume he put quote marks around "points" to distinguish them from just any old geographic location that a reader might first take the word for. On the River, they are more likely to move. On more static shores, they grow into capes. First impulse on crossings would be a synonym for "ford" - calmer, shallow water. A bridge is a crossing, of course, but there weren't as many of those back then.