The earliest settlers in this area crossed the Chickasaw boundary before 1810 and established the Sims and New Garden settlements. The community became known as Elkmont for the once abundant elk, the Elk River, and the mount on which it sat. It began to flourish with the completion of the Tennessee and Alabama Central Railroad in 1859, and the Fort Hampton post office, established that year, was renamed Elkmont in 1866. Elkmont grew into a commerce center for North Limestone County and was incorporated on March 28, 1873. The first high school in Limestone County was established here in 1912. The Tennessee and Alabama Central Railroad reached Elkmont in the fall of 1859, and by 1862 the Union army controlled North Alabama and the railroad as an important supply line from Nashville to Chattanooga and Atlanta. One and one-tenth miles south is the site of the battle at Sulphur Creek Trestle, part of the September 1864 raids of C.S.A. General N.B. Forrest and one of the bloodiest land battles in Alabama. The rail line became the Nashville and Decatur Railroad in 1866, came under Louisville and Nashville Railroad control by 1871, and in 1887 the existing depot was built. The L&N served the area for many years by bringing perishable goods and mail, providing transportation, and exporting cotton. L&N became part of the seaboard system in 1982, and the line was abandoned in April 1986.