Krapivenskoe Hillfort has been settled multiple times over the last two thousand years. The oldest traces of culture found here date back to the 5th and 4th centuries BC. These artifacts belong to the local forest-steppe inhabitants and possibly to incoming settlers, perhaps Scythian. In the 9th century, a fortified settlement of the tribe 'Sever' appeared on the site of the Scythian hillfort, which, along with the 'Polyans', formed the ethnic basis of Kievan Rus. In the early 10th century, the settlement was abandoned and burned by the Pechenegs. In the early 12th century, the Rus re-inhabited the upper reaches of the Seversky Donets, and the hillfort on the Koreni River came to life again.

In the mid-13th century, the ancient Russian city, like many other settlements in southern Rus, was destroyed as a result of the Mongol invasion. It was only after more than three centuries, in the 14th and 17th centuries, that life in the hillfort resumed.

A legend is associated with Krapivenskoe Hillfort about a dungeon. According to one version, Patriarch Nikon the Great, having severed relations with princes Vsevolod Yaroslavich and his son Vladimir, left Kyiv and went to Krapivnoe, taking with him the valuable library of Yaroslav, the legendary collection of books and documents of Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Subsequently, traces of this library are lost, and it may still be stored in the dungeon of the ruined city.

Today, Krapivenskoe Hillfort is an object of historical and cultural heritage of regional significance, included in the State Register and protected by law.