[2] The county was established on December 10, 1790, and was named for Samuel Elbert.

The northern half of Elbert County, north of a line made by following State Route 17 from Bowman southeast to Elberton, and then following State Route 72 east to just before the South Carolina border, and then heading south along the shores of Lake Richard B. Russell & Clarkes Hill to the county's southeastern tip, is located in the Upper Savannah River sub-basin of the larger Savannah River basin.

[6] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 19,637 people, 7,559 households, and 5,065 families residing in the county.

Historical and cultural sites in Elbert County include the Nancy Hart cabin, the Dan Tucker gravesite, the Stephen Heard Cemetery, the Petersburg Township site, Vans Creek Church, the Elbert County Courthouse, the Elberton Seaboard-Airline Depot, the Rock Gym, the Granite Bowl, the Elberton Granite Museum and Exhibit, the Richard B. Russell Dam, the Elbert Theatre, Richard B. Russell State Park, and Bobby Brown Park.

The Georgia Guidestones stood in Elbert County from 1980 until their destruction in 2022.