Pleasant View is a home in southeastern Madison County built around 1825 by Joseph Barnett, a large landowner and Madison County magistrate. The two-story, Federal-style brick house is laid in Flemish bond. Its name comes from the creek that runs through the property, also called Mound or Mount Branch, and from the pleasant view the home has to the south. The outside walls are four bricks thick, and most of the original interior walls are three bricks thick.
The house originally had two stories and six rooms with pine floors. It faced south, with three slave quarters lining the western side of the drive, connected to the house by brick paths. Only one slave quarters remains. The kitchen stood separately, as was common for the era, but later additions joined it to the rest of the house; the original kitchen area and how it was attached can still be seen at the back. Other outbuildings include a smokehouse, icehouse, privies and barns.
According to census records, Joseph Barnett owned 578 acres and twenty slaves in 1825. Kavanaugh Armstrong bought the property in 1856 and owned it at the time of the Battle of Richmond. In 1860 the Armstrongs had about 200 acres and two slaves. They raised several kinds of livestock and crops, and were the only landowners in the area to grow tobacco, in small quantities.
During the battle, Elizabeth Armstrong and her children left for the Palmer House, and the home stood empty. Confederate forces moved through the property to outflank the Federals about 150 to 200 yards north and west of the house. Afterward the home was used as a hospital, and it still bears scars of artillery damage.
The Armstrongs sold the property in 1875, and later owners renovated and enlarged the house to what you see today. It was a private home and farm until late 2001, when the Madison County Historical Society bought the house and 62 acres at public auction for $564,764. The Society sold the property to the Madison County Fiscal Court, and it has since been developed as a Civil War battlefield park.
In 2007 the Fiscal Court bought another 300 acres, including the hidden ravine the Confederates used to flank the Federals, now known as Churchill’s Draw; some of that land will in time become part of Richmond Battlefield Park. In 2008 nearly two miles of walking trails lined with interpretive signs were added to the park. With the Battlefield Golf Course, nearly 600 acres of battlefield land in Richmond have been saved since 2001.