According to a 1905 publication by the United States Geologic Survey, based on research by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill history professor Kemp P. Battle, it was named specifically for General George Monck, the first Duke of Albemarle and one of the original proprietors of the colony of Carolina, which included the town.

[5] The site of modern-day Albemarle was originally peopled by small tribes of hunter-gatherers and mound builders whose artifacts and settlements have been dated back nearly 10,000 years.

Large-scale European settlement of the region came in the mid-18th century via two primary waves: immigrants of Dutch, Scots-Irish and German descent moved from Pennsylvania and New Jersey seeking enhanced religious and political tolerance, while immigrants of English backgrounds came to the region from Virginia and the Cape Fear River Basin in Eastern North Carolina.

The region remained part of Montgomery County until 1841, when after years of attempted separation, prominent residents of the increasingly populous areas west of the Yadkin/Pee Dee River system successfully petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly for the establishment of Stanly County as an independent entity.

[6] Nehemiah Hearne's heirs donated 51 acres (210,000 m2) from his plantation near the intersection of the Old Turnpike and Old Stage Roads for the construction of the new County Seat.

The County Commissioners established the town's boundaries, laid out streets and surveyed and marked parcels of property within Hearne's donated land.

The first land lot sale financed the new town's public buildings and paid some part of the elected officials' salaries.

In 1911, the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway (WSS) constructed its own line through Albemarle to support the booming textile and market, eventually driving the Yadkin Railroad into obsolescence.

The railbed of the Yadkin Railroad has been ripped up and paved over, though a one-mile (1.6 km) segment of its route south of Albemarle now serves as a hiking trail in Rock Creek Park.

In 2024, a new cryptocurrency was developed in Albemarle as part of a fundraiser to save the local restaurant "Jay's Seafood", which had been damaged in a fire.

The Stanly County Museum[10] in Albemarle provides a focal point for regional historic research and preservation.

Its topography is characterized by rolling, eroded hills, deciduous forests, and fast-running, narrow, shallow streams that feed the Yadkin/Pee Dee River Basin.

Thickly bedded, axially cleaved meta-mudstone and meta-argillite are common in this formation, interbedded with meta-sandstone, meta-conglomerate and meta-volcanic rock.

It is situated on a high elevation in the Uwharrie Mountains adjoining the Yadkin River, and offers many recreational activities.

Television stations available are from the Charlotte Designated Market Area, which Stanly County and Albemarle are a part of.