Originally named Dogwood Flat for it's flourishing Dogwood trees. The area of Butler County between Reddock Creek and Pine Barren Creek was later renamed to Pine Flat because of the pine forests and flat land.

The first house to be built in this area was that of James K. Benson, possibly the first white man to live in the area. No specific date of his moving to this area has been positively established but it has been estimated that Benson migrated to Butler County about 1815. His family followed him in the fall of 1817.

Shortly after Benson arrive, Reuben Hill came from Georgia and persuaded his father, Thomas Hill to migrate Butler County. In 1816, Thomas Hill, his sons Reuben and Josiah, his brother Benjamin Hill, his nephew Isaac Hill and friends Warren Thompson and Capt. John H. Watts left the native State of Georgia. They brought horses, cattle and provisions for one full year. The families of Thomas and Benjamin Hill joined them during the winter of 1817. Thomas Hill was one of the earliest pioneer settlers in Butler County. It was he who named many of the creeks that run through the Pine Flat area.

It was also in this area that Fort Bibb was erected following the Ogly Massacre in March of 1816. The fort was named after the Governor of the Alabama Territory. The property on which the fort was built was owned by a Capt. Saffold, who later sold it to a man named Carter. Carter in turn sold it to Peter Cheatham. Many of the people who lived in the fort during the year of 1818 became disheartened by the situation and moved further west. Those who remained became prosperous farmers.

Perhaps the most famous person to be born in the Pine Flat community was Thomas H. Watts who served the state as governor. He and his parents are buried in the Pine Flat Cemetery. A man named John Smith is believed to have become the wealthest man from the community and had considerable influence. Postmaster for a time was James Reynolds, another early settler.