Botox in Carmel, NY.

The town was settled around 1740 by George Hughson. On the night of April 26, 1777, after learning the news that the British had begun burning nearby Danbury, Connecticut, sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington rode the entire night through the hamlets of Carmel, Mahopac, Kent Cliffs and Farmers Mills, warning those along the way that the British were coming before returning home at dawn. A statue memorializing the ride sits alongside Lake Gleneida.

Carmel was formed with Franklin town from part of Frederick town on March 17, 1795, while still a part of Dutchess County. (Franklin was renamed Patterson April 6, 1808. Frederick changed its name to Kent April 15, 1817.) Carmel was transferred to Putnam County when Dutchess County was split to form Putnam County in 1812 and Carmel was designated the county seat. In 1861, a small part of Carmel was taken to be added to the town of Putnam Valley.

The Putnam County Courthouse was built in 1814. It is the second oldest working courthouse in New York State. General James Townsend, of Carmel, was the architect. A landmark on Gleneida Avenue in Carmel, the building has a classical front facade. There was one hanging there in 1844. A jail was added in 1855. A new Putnam County Courthouse was completed in early 2008, located nearby on Gleneida Avenue.

• December 4, 1965 – A Trans World Airlines Boeing 707 plane en route to San Francisco collided with an Eastern Airlines Constellation flight in mid-air, killing four people.
• July 29, 1971 – A category F-2 tornado 1.9 miles (3.1 km) away from the town center caused between $50,000 and $500,000 in damages.
• October 22, 1974 – A large row of businesses on Gleneida Avenue was destroyed in a fire that required over 200 volunteer firefighters to fight the blaze.
• September 1982 – June 1983 – Carmel High School Boys Track star Mike Stahr was ranked first in the US for the mile run, losing only one high school track race during his junior and senior year. He set state records and was the Millrose Games mile winner two years in a row.
• July 10, 1989 – A F-2 (max. wind speeds 113-157 mph) tornado 0.7 miles (1.1 km) away from the Carmel town center traveled east across Fair Street near the King’s Grant condos, injuring five people and causing between $5,000,000 and $50,000,000 in damages.
• September 11, 2001 – eight Carmel residents died in the September 11 terrorist attacks: Police Officer Stephen Patrick Driscoll, Firefighter Daniel Harlin, Firefighter Thomas Joseph Kuveikis, Firefighter Robert Minara, George Paris of Cantor Fitzgerald, Firefighter Christopher Blackwell, David Fodor of Fiduciary Trust, and Firefighter George Cain. The town has a memorial dedicated at Spain-Cornerstone Park on the corner of Fair Street and Route 52.
• April 27-28, 2007 – The Town of Carmel hosted a two-day Revolutionary War era militia encampment along Lake Gleneida. The event celebrated the 230th anniversary of the heroism of Sybil Ludington.