Powhatan’s newest elementary school has a name. On Tuesday, March 4 the Powhatan County School Board officially designated the 96,000 square foot structure, currently under construction, as Flat Rock Elementary School.

The School Board pared down a list of approximately 150 suggestions generated from County employees and the County website and through Powhatan Today to a final two; John Rolfe and Flat Rock. Rolfe, the husband of Pocahontas, was actually the leading candidate from a numbers stand point but the Board settled on Flat Rock in a unanimous 5-0 vote.

“It’s a strong name,” said School Board Chairmen Valarie Ayers. “I like it, I really like it. It’s historical.” Board member Rick Gideons, who presented the motion to approve the Flat Rock name, was more expansive. “Flat Rock is an historical place, a real place. It was a ceremonial place for the American Indians and appears on local maps as far back as the 1850s,” he said.

Despite the fact that John Rolfe was the most popular suggestion and many of the other candidates were local dignitaries, including Powhatan County School Superintendent Dr. Margaret Meara, the School Board decided on the geographic name. “There is not one government building in the entire county named for an individual.” Gideons pointed out.

“Historically our schools were named for geographic areas.” It is his belief that the one school that is not named for a geographic area, Pocahontas Middle School, carried its name over from the original segregated Pocahontas High School.

Gideons was adamant concerning not selecting an individual’s name to designate the new facility. He acknowledged that the County had many deserving individuals and therein lay the dilemma. To him, the question of “who is the most deserving” was impossible to answer. Ayers agreed.

“We decided we were not going to name it after an individual,” she said. “We are not in the business of hurting people’s feelings.”

Dr. Meara’s office pointed out that it is within the power of the School Board to dedicate portions of a building or facility to honor an individual; Bob Baltimore Field at Powhatan High School for example. Individuals must be sponsored and the sponsoring group is financially responsible for plaques or signage. PCPS Communications Director Michele Wilson also confirmed that Indian and geographic names did indeed make up a large portion of the submitted suggestions.

Local historian John F. Rothert, whom the School Board contacted in order to confirm that Flat Rock is indeed two words, shed some additional light on the area. Rothert confirmed that Flat Rock existed at least as far back as the “early 1800’s when it was a stop on the Richmond to Petersburg stage line.” The stage coach stop was probably named the Flat Rock Tavern, he speculated. Civil War maps circa 1850 clearly designate the Flat Rock area. The flat rock which defined Flat Rock still exists and is located behind the Davis-Merchant Tractor Company.

Rothert also noted that after the School Board had decided on the Flat Rock name he located even more compelling historical data. A recently published book entitled The Slave Families of Thomas Jefferson contains a digitally enhanced “Travel Map in the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson” according to Rothert. Thomas Jefferson inherited, by marriage, the Indian Camp Plantation located at French’s Tavern off of what is now Route 13.

“This is clearly the earliest thing we’ve yet to find as a reference to Flat Rock,” Rothert stated. In an attempt to date the map, Rothert speculated that it obviously could not have been before 1777 and was probably compiled no later than the last of the century. “Thomas Jefferson would not have had time for such things during his Presidency,” Rothert concluded.