Freeborn Garretson preached in "the new church" on March 10, 1793. Francis Asbury, the first bishop of the Methodist Church in America (1784), preached at Bethel in 1795, 1812 and 1817. Summer camp meetings for Hudson Valley Methodists were first held in Carmel around 1804.

In 1805, Croton Landing became the new site with hundreds attending week-long summer activities near today's Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School. John Zuricher was a well-known master stonecutter in New York City until the Revolution.

About 1776 during the British occupation, he moved to Haverstraw in Rockland County. Members of the "Zuricher circle" are represented at the Old Dutch Burying Ground at Sleepy Hollow. John J.

Peterson — Revolutionary War Hero: Peterson was an African American soldier who played a crucial role in a pivotal event. On September 21, 1780, Peterson and Moses Sherwood brought a cannon from Fort Lafayette at Verplanck's Point to Croton Point. They fired on the British frigate Vulture waiting to pick up Major John Andre, who was plotting with Benedict Arnold for the surrender of West Point. The Vulture abandoned its position, forcing Andre to move overland.