The first name of the village was Drakes, which possibly came from the name of a family or was in reference to the large number of geese that did and still fly over the area. Later the crossroads called itself Hardy, which is probably taken from Samuel Hardy, who was one of the signers of a document (along with Thomas Jefferson, Arthur Lee and James Monroe) that ceded the northwest territories of Virginia to the government of the United States. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1783-1785 and had been a lieutenant governor of Virginia.