[3] Located on the shore of Lake Ontario, the town is named after William Alexander, Lord Stirling, an American general of the Revolutionary War.

[citation needed] Sterling is the most northerly town in the county and lies northwest of Syracuse.

The region was formerly part of the territory of the Onondaga, one of the original Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

However, as allies of the British, who were defeated, they were forced to cede most of their lands in New York to the state after the Revolutionary War.

This land was made part of the Central New York Military Tract, which was divided and granted as pay to veteran soldiers of the Revolution.

The Sterling Renaissance Festival, held annually during the summer for over forty years, also attracts tourists to the town.

5 Schoolhouse and Sterling Grist Mill Complex were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.