They were drawn to the area by bountiful hunting and virgin land, and they founded the communities of Bethesda and Blue's Crossing by the late 18th Century.

[6] There were a few small skirmishes in the vicinity of Aberdeen, most notably the one at Ray's Mill Creek, in which Colonel Philip Alston of the House in the Horseshoe, who was in pursuit of Loyalist Colonel David Fanning, savagely beat Kenneth Black, a local who had acted as Fanning's guide through the area.

[7] One of the earliest industries of Bethesda and Blue's Crossing was naval stores due to the abundance of pine trees in the area.

These goods were transported to market initially via the Cape Fear River to Wilmington, and later by plank road.

After the Civil War, however, the Raleigh and Augusta Air Line Railroad connected the community of Blue's Crossing to the rest of the country, allowing them to sell their naval stores and timber to the rest of the country.

Four years later, Allison F. Page bought numerous forested acres to build a rail line, as well as to clear the land for timber.

Aberdeen's proximity to Pinehurst resulted in a boom in the tourism and retirement industries, which remain a major part of the local economy today.

[9] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 8,516 people, 2,891 households, and 1,786 families residing in the town.