It was the original settlement in the bay, founded by Benjamin Boyd in 1843 to service his properties on the Monaro plains.

Boyd imported sandstone from Sydney to construct a lighthouse on south head.

He also commissioned inns and churches, housing and store rooms, wharves and stock-yards.

[4] When Boyd's finances collapsed, the town was abandoned from the 1840s until the first renovation of the Seahorse Inn in the 1930s.

[3] In modern times, Boydtown is the smaller of the two towns in the bay, consisting mainly of housing, tourist caravan parks and the more recently (2006) refurbished Seahorse Inn.