Apollos "Paul" Smith arrived in 1859 and gradually built up a hotel in the community that bears his name.

Paul Smith's Hotel grew into one of the largest and most well-known, attracting U.S. presidents, governors and other prominent guests.

The hamlet now called Gabriels originated when Alfonzo Rand, William Ricketson, the Dustins, and the Otises cleared virgin forest land and began farming the sandy loam soils in the southern part of the town along the boundary with the Town of Harrietstown near Ricketson Brook and today's Split Rock Road.

It wasn't until the Adirondack & St. Lawrence Railway came in 1892 that Gabriels expanded northward with many settling near the railroad station.

Following the arrival of the railroad, the Sisters of Mercy established a tuberculosis sanitorium on the small hill near the rail station in 1897.

Paul Smith's Hotel immediately started a stage line to the railroad station.

When the Sisters of Mercy closed The Gabriels Sanatorium and moved to Lake Placid, the San was sold to Paul Smith's College.

[4] Brighton is located south of the center of Franklin County within the limits of the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

Major water bodies include Upper and Lower St. Regis Lake in the southwest corner of town.