Elkhorn Creek is mentioned in the poem "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman: A Southerner soon as a Northerner, a planter nonchalant and hospitable down by the Oconee I live, A Yankee bound my own way ready for trade, my joints the limberest joints on earth and the sternest joints on earth, A Kentuckian walking the vale of the Elkhorn in my deer-skin leggings, a Louisianian or Georgian … James Stone's Elkhorn Distillery was one of the many distilleries that opened up in Kentucky following the end of the Civil War.

The distillery was located on Elkhorn Creek in order to extract water from it to create steam to power all of the machines involved in the distillation process.

In 1908, The Greenbaum Distillery caught on fire and the burned whiskey was dumped into the Elkhorn creek causing thousands of fish to die.

Similarly, in 1934 the Pepper Distillery caught on fire and dumped whiskey into the creek also causing the death of many fish species.

Much later in 1999, a paint-factory fire released deadly chemicals into Elkhorn Creek which also lead to the death of native species.

Ne-me-no-char was betrothed to Chin-gash-goochy's father but their love was too strong so they decided to flee to the distant land of what is now Kentucky to start a new life.