Lambton Shores was formed in 2001 when the Township of Bosanquet was amalgamated with the town of Forest, and the villages of Arkona, Grand Bend and Thedford.

The main communities in Lambton Shores are Arkona, Forest, Grand Bend, Port Franks and Thedford.

The settlement began in the 1830s when a group of English and Scottish settlers bought lots from the Canada Company, a land development firm.

One of the original settlers, Benjamin Brewster gave his name to the village after he and his business partner David Smart secured rights to dam the Ausable River and started a sawmill in 1832.

The community began in the 1860s when farmer Nelson Southworth, a native of Vermont, agreed to donate land for the construction of a Grand Trunk Railway station, with the condition that he would be able to name it.