Although visited by Lucayan Indians earlier, the first known permanent residents arrived in 1785 in what was known as Great Harbour. Wyannie Malone, originally from Charleston, South Carolina and other British Loyalists left the United States for the nearest British territory in the Bahamas.
Elbow Cay and the Abacos were very isolated until the Marsh Harbour Airport was built in 1959. Before that, the residents survived by fishing, limited trading, and salvage of ships wrecked on Elbow Reef. Since then, contact with the outside world has brought in additional residents and tourism.
Hopetown originally served as the administrative centre of the Abacos, until it switched over to Marsh Harbour in the 1960s
