In 1765, Captain Samuel Holland surveyed the island and the British government instituted a feudal system of land ownership.

The township of Lot 5, which contains present-day Alberton, was granted to Edward Lewis, a British Member of Parliament in the 1767 land lottery.

Located at Bury Head in Northport, it was established in June 1788 and was first populated by local Acadians who had escaped expulsion three decades before British settlements.

The nearby shipbuilding, lumber and shipping industries had resulted in developing a sustainable community which was a major trade centre in western Prince County.

In 1872, the Prince Edward Island Railway was constructed, making the port at Northport, adjacent to Alberton, its western terminus.

Alberton became the centre of the worldwide silver fox industry when Charles Dalton and Robert Oulton began farming the fur-bearing animals on an island in the harbour at Northport in 1894, bringing tremendous prosperity to area residents and business owners.

Despite a fire that devastated part of the town the following year, Alberton quickly reflected its growing economic importance of the village.

The fox farming industry brought increased growth in the population and tax base for the community, which resulted in an upgrade from village status, becoming an incorporated town in May 1913.

Alberton is roughly halfway between Tignish and O'Leary, and is situated along the north shore of the island, fronting the open Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Alberton experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) similar to that of coastal Hokkaido, being somewhat less extreme due to the island condition and being surrounded by the Gulf of St Lawrence.

[17] The majority of the Alberton work force is employed in the service sector, serving a surrounding population of 5000 residents in western Prince County.

The fishing industry in the adjacent community of Northport is a significant economic activity, with landings by fishing boats totalling 3 million kilograms of species such as American lobster, mussels, snow crab, soft-shell clams, cod, herring, American plaice, mackerel, sea scallop, yellowtail, eel, winter flounder, smelt, rock crab, tomcod, silversides, porbeagle, and blue shark.

The town has private day care and publicly funded kindergarten facilities, as well as Alberton Elementary School (gr.