Our Past
Here is the history of the lake.
Colonial Period; Of Indians, Heroes, and Spies
Colonial era: In the 17th century, our general area was inhabited by the Wappinger Tribe of Indians. Their Sachem bore the English name of Daniel Nimham. On Route 301, just east of the firehouse, is Nimham Road leading to Mount Nimham. In these early colonial years, most of the families that came to the area from Europe were Dutch settlers. They named the area Duchess County. One of the most influential of these was the Phillipse family. In the early 18th century, the Phillipses became embroiled in a law suit and counter-suit with the Wappingers, who claimed that they had been
Revolutionary Era
Somewhat after the French and Indian War, other better known failures of the English Crown led to the American Revolution. The American colonel Henry Ludington lived in what is now Carmel. On April 26, 1777, his daughter Sybil, age 16, rode over 40 miles through back roads—from the area of that would become Kent to Mahopac to Danbury—to alert the soldiers in her father’s regiment to prepare for an attack by the British. Unlike Paul Revere, a renowned silversmith who rode a mere 12 miles on familiar roads near Boston and rendered immortal by Longfellow, it was not until nearly
Twentieth Century
In the years since the farmers exited the area, forests have rapidly returned (although still not fully mature), bottom-lands have become reservoirs, and residential developments have replaced more accessible farms. It is said that the population of the Kent-Carmel area has only recently approached the numbers of 200 years ago. Yet, despite these changes Putnam County still represents a sharp departure from the suburbs separating it from New York City. It has been, and still is, a tableau of roads twisting through wooded areas and stony ridges. By way of postscript, in the last decade development pressures have been rippling