Port Ellen is built around Leodamais Bay, Islay's main deep water harbour.

[3][4] The area around Port Ellen has a variety of archaeological sites covering the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age periods.

There are standing stones at Kilbride, a fort at Borraichill Mor, several chambered cairns, and a chapel at Cill Tobar Lasrach.

[5] The current town was planned by Walter Frederick Campbell and founded in 1821 originally intended to support the herring industry.

[6] It was originally called Port Ellinor in honour of his wife, Lady Eleanor Charteris (d. 1832), daughter of Francis Douglas, 8th Earl of Wemyss.