Welcome to Richmond, the City with a propensity for shooting itself in the foot; and doing so on a regular basis. See, we built this major toll road from Downtown out to the farthest reaches of Chesterfield County, gave it a name, let 10-15 years go by with everyone using one of these pronunciation as the accepted one, and then suddenly decide we need to practice a little revisionism and endorse the other pronunciation. As John Stossel would say, "Gimme a break."  

     Being the politically correct ultra sensitive real estate broker that I am, I have never had any difficulty with answering this question. Here’s how I handle it. If you live north of the James, then this is the Po’white Parkway. I normally impart this tidbit with as much West End condescension as I can muster and punctuate it with some snide aside like "you know it’s where all those kind of folks live." If you live south of the James, then it is the Pow’hite Parkway. I say this with all the POW I can and with indisputable conviction, while citing no less than Pocahontas’ father, Powhatan, as the justification.

     Hey, genius what do you do when you have a relocation client who is uncertain which side of the river he will call home. Well, just like that ole tar baby who ain’t sayin’ nothin’, I dodge the question as long as possible. But if pressed for an answer, I claim both are wrong. See, there is a 1864 ‘Map of Richmond, VA and Surrounding Country’, which shows a cluster of buildings near the village of Bon Air, which are labeled as the "Pawhite Stop" for trains. Maybe, this was old man White’s place who everyone just called Pa.