The city has a long history of attracting Venezuelan political leaders and artists, and popular tourist site today.

[1][2][3] Macuto was founded in August 1740 on the site of an indigenous village called Guaicamacuto ("basket of thorns").

In 1885, Antonio Guzmán Blanco ordered the construction of a large manor known as "La Guzmania", which has subsequently been used as a residence for a number of Venezuelan leaders, including Juan Vicente Gómez, Marcos Pérez Jiménez, and Wolfgang Larrazábal.

Macuto served as the hideaway and final residence of Venezuelan artist Armando Reverón, a modernist painter and craftsman, who built a compound of huts surrounded by a wall, which he named "El Castillete" ("little castle").

[3]On May 3 and May 4 of 2020, Macuto was one of the sites of the failed Operation Gideon, where a small group contracted by an American mercinary company named Silvercorp USA headed by Jordan Goudreau attempted to invade via sea to capture Nicolás Maduro and remove him from power.