Piecemeal information handed down from generation to generation and which had been carefully put together reveals that the town of Macalelon had been formerly a part of the Municipality of Gumaca. Before 1765, there were already two sizeable villages in what is now part of Macalelon, more particularly located: one in the place now known as Pinagbayanan and the other in Maaliw, now a part of barrio Tubigan Ibaba headed by Luis Innocentes and Manuel Acasio respectively. At that time, the village situated in Pinagbayanan was considered the townsite, where then was erected a church built of coral rocks.

In the later part of the seventeenth century, Don Domingo dela Cruz, a prominent, influential and Spanish- speaking resident of Gumaca, went to this place to look for his bosom friends, Luis Innocentes and Manuel Acasio who had settled in the place now a part of Macalelon. Lured by the beauty of the place, Don Domingo dela Cruz lost the intention of going back to Gumaca and instead settled in Pinagbayanan.

Like other coastal towns during those days, the place had been frequently plundered upon by moro pirated molesting villagers and destroying properties every time they came. Thinking that a town situated at a place where moro vintas could be sighted far at sea, would be more advantageous to the safety of the people, Don Domingo dela Cruz convinced the villagers that the townsite at Pinagbayanan be transferred to a place along seacoast.

One day Don Domingo dela Cruz, Luis Innocentes and Manuel Acasio, together with some villagers proceeded to look for a townsite which would best suit their purpose. Upon reaching the place where now stand the town of Macalelon, they admired it and all agreed and decided that the townsite at Pinagbayanan be transferred there. On their return, the group came across a swampy stream heavily shaded by clusters of luxuriant and spreading Pipisik Trees, where they met a Visayan couple along the bank of the stream fishing with a hook and line. Don Domingo dela Cruz courteously greeted the couple and remarked, "Tnis is a very nice place". The couple answered by saying "Yes this place "Maca", a Visayan word which means "lilom" in tagalog or shady in English.

On August 19, 1787, the townsite from what is now known as Pinagbayanan, was transferred to where now stands the town of Macalelon, and then and there Don Domingpo dela Cruz, Luis Innocentes, Manuel Acasio, Lorenzo de Ramos, Salvador Toribio and others established a town, baptizing it as "Macalilom", a combination of the Visayan word "Maca" and the Tagalog word "iilom" both meaning "shady" in English, with Don Domingo dela Cruz as its first Kapitan. With the passing of time, the name "Macalilom" later metamorphosed to "Macalilong" but which because of misspelling, an error acquisced in by all, latest became Macalelon.

From August 19, I787, the municipality of Macalelon then comprising its present territory and that now comprising the municipality of General Luna became a separate and distinct political subdivision until it was merged with Pitogo in 1904 because the town of Macalelon, then under Don Emesto Uñas, its First Presidente Municipal, had been attacked by the insurrectos killing one of its policemen during the encounter.

In 1910, Don Juan Carmona, a resident of Macalelon, was elected as Presidente Municipal of the merged territories of Pitogo and Macalelon. Carmona, being a resident of Macalelon, transferred the seat of government from Pitogo to Macalelon on January 10, 1910 with the implication therefore, that Pitogo then because a part of Macalelon as a merged territory. Because of the distance between Pitogo and Macalelon, the residents of Pitogo protested against the great inconvenience they have suffered from paying their taxes and transacting other governmental business in the town of Macalelon, so they requested the higher authority ' concemed that Pitogo be separated from Macalelon, and in 1911, the separation of Pitogo from Macalelon was affected.

In 1928, Jose Nieva Sr. was elected as Presidente Municipal of Macalelon. Upon assumption of office in 1929, he worked for the separation from Macalelon, the sitio of Hiñgoso as a distinct municipality, in compliance with his election campaign promises to the people of said sitio. In the same year the sitio of Hiñgoso became a municipality and was named General Luna. The creation of the municipality of General Luna was a great blow against the financial standing of Macalelon, for it meant a slash of an area of twelve thousand hectares of land more or less from its territory.

Now, the municipality of Macalelon comprises a territory covering a land area of 9,360 hectares consisting of thirty barangays and with a population of 25,986 inhabitants as of 2007 census. The place is situated along northern coastal portion of the Bondoc Peninsula facing the Tayabas Bay. Rainy season in this place is prominently longer than the dry season. Rainfall usually starts from the early part of May and ends in the middle of January. Because of this climatic condition and the abundance of fertile lowlands, farming is most favored as the predominant occupation of the people.

In Macalelon, the observance of the religious practices and rituals during the Lent Period or Kuarisma, such the holding of the Way of the Cross or Kalbaryo, the reading of the Holy Passion in alsmost every home, the construction of Kubols, on corners of streets and the having of a Procession during the Holy Week is a deeply - rooted and much revered tradition. The colorful and well-meant observance of this tradition, makes the town of Macalelon a place much sought for by many during the Holy Week. The traditional celebration of town fiestas in every part of our country, which in Macalelon falls on the 8th day of December of every year, is not lavishly observed in the place as do other towns.

The town of Macalelon taks pride in having earned for itself several distinctions. In 1916 thru the initiative and efforts of its Presidente Municipal, Demetrio Pandeño, an intermediate school had been established and opened, giving for Macalelon the credit of being the first municipality in the whole Bondoc Peninsula, it has the biggest area of ricelands and is generally considered as the ricebowl of the place. Put end to end, it has the longest concrete - paved streets among the neighboring towns. Its market is one of the most progressive Bondoc Peninsula.