Charlestown of Aberlour, United Kingdom

The first Aberlour distillery was established shortly after the Act became law, by the owner of a gentleman's estate where Aberlour House is situated. Soon after the property changed hands, that distillery was demolished. In 1879, local resident James Fleming (1830-1895, built a new Aberlour distillery alongside the Lour Burn; which is now owned and operated by the Pernod Ricard group of companies. Fleming was also a bank agent and became a significant resident and generous benefactor in the village, providing its first purpose-built meeting place, The Fleming Hall (1889), followed by The Fleming Cottage Hospital (1900), and - as a safe pedestrian crossing over the fast-flowing river Spey - The Victoria Bridge, completed in 1902 and known locally as the Penny Bridge.

According to the 1846 A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, "This parish, formerly called Skirdustan, signifying, in the Gaelic tongue, 'the division of Dustan', its tutelary saint, derived its present name from its situation at the mouth of a noisy burn, which discharges itself into the river Spey."

Aberlour once was the site of an orphanage which was founded in 1875 by Margaret Macpherson Grant and a minister called Charles Jupp. His tomb lies in St Margaret's Episcopal Church which was the church used by the children of the orphanage. The orphanage was split into two separate units – one for the girls and the other for the boys. Between the two buildings was the school where the children were taught. The horror author Dorothy K. Haynes and her twin brother Leonard spent four years, from 1929 to 1933, in Aberlour Orphanage; her experiences are recounted in her 1973 memoir Haste Ye Back. Aberlour Child Care Trust is now one of Scotland's main children's charities with services throughout Scotland. The Trust was also found to be a child care institution where children suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in 2021.

Aberlour is also the place where the famous Walkers shortbread is made. Walkers own the woods behind the factory – Fisherton woods. Until 2004, Aberlour House was the site of a school, a prep school for Gordonstoun; it is now offices for Walkers. Aberlour Golf Club (now defunct) first appeared in 1905 and continued until the late 1930s.

Thomas Telford, the renowned civil engineer designed Craigellachie Bridge spanning the River Spey about 2 miles (3 km) to the north of the village. It was built after the Great Spate in the 19th century destroyed an earlier bridge.

Alexander Cameron Sim, a pharmacist who introduced lemonade (locally called ramune) to Japan, was born in the village.

The area was once served by Aberlour railway station, but this closed on 18 October 1965 as a result of the Beeching Axe.