Hope Town was settled by British Loyalists who were seeking safe refuge after the American Revolution.  Many of the settlers came from the Carolinas, by way of East Florida, after that area was turned over to Spain in the Peace of Paris (1783).  The same treaty called for the evacuation of New York by the loyalists.  Many people moved back to England, Canada, or south to the British Caribbean.  The initial settlements were at Carleton (near the current Treasure Cay) and Marsh Harbour.  By 1785, there were over 1,000 refugees in Abaco who were distributed in five or six settlements.  The settlement at Hope Town was founded in 1785, in part, by a widow from South Carolina named Wyannie Malone.  Wyannie, along with her children, started a dynasty in Hope Town that spread the Malone name throughout the Bahamas, over to Florida, and outwards from there