[7][b] Two archaeological sites on the island, the Wright and Little River sites, provided evidence of Late Archaic and Early Woodland period settlement through the presence of ceramic shards, including decorated Potomac Creek pottery, and other artifacts.

[10] Elk Island was originally patented to John Woodson and Charles Fleming on 16 June 1714.

Upon his death, Martha then married Thomas Jefferson) also owned 1,000 acres on Elk Island.

[17] During the Revolutionary War, Elk Island[18] and Elkhill were occupied by Lord Cornwallis and his men for ten days, during which time they destroyed many of the crops on the plantation and slaughtered livestock for provisions.

Jefferson visited the site not long after Cornwallis left, and later recorded what he had seen in a letter to William Gordon in Paris.