The southern banks of the river mouth is the location of a sandbank, which forms a section of the Wenderholm Regional Park.

[3][4] It was traditionally known as Te Awa Pūhoi,[4] and was used as a way to access the inland ara (walking tracks) by waka.

[4] The upper reaches of the river are remembered as a location where an unsuccessful peace-making marriage occurred, involving Te Kupe, grand-daughter of Manuhiri.

[4] By the 1830s, Ngāti Rongo settled at Te Muri, a kāinga to the north of the Puhoi River mouth.

In the mid-19th Century, the Marutūāhu tribes sold their interests in the area to the Crown in the Mahurangi Purchase, however Ngāti Rongo were not involved with this transaction.