The Town of Dryden contains the village of Dryden. The town is on the county's eastern border, east of Ithaca.

The region was part of the Central New York Military Tract used to pay soldiers of the American Revolution. It is named for John Dryden (1631-1700), the English poet and translator of Virgil (note this is the name of the town adjoining Dryden to the east). Dryden was also the translator of Plutarch's Lives which was probably used as a source for many of the names in the Military Tract by Robert Harpur in 1790.

The first settler arrived around 1797. The Town of Dryden was established in 1803 from part of the Town of Ulysses. In 1856, part of the Town of Danby was added to Dryden.