Joseph Barnett House/Pleasant View

MA-93
US 421 South/Big Hill Road
ca. 1825

This brick structure was first owned by court Joseph Barrett (1763-1831), a county court magistrate, and was later the site of much of the Civil War battle of Richmond. Like Mt. Zion Church (MA-92), Pleasant View bears the view scars of that two-day battle, with the indentation of a cannon ball in one exterior brick wall. As at Mt. Zion Church, many wounded soldiers were treated inside.

The original Federal facade is laid in Flemish bond having stretcher-header jack arches over the windows and a narrow brick belt course between the first and second stories. A double-leaf doorway provides access into the two first-floor rooms. Although the two-story house has had several additions, and the kitchen is no longer seperate from the house, the original hall-parlor plan is still evident.

Remodeling after the Civil War included the addition of a hallway and the elongation of the windows. This gave the house a side-passage plan and Italianate detail. A wrap-around porch supported by Tuscan columns now adds overhead shelter at the entrance. Brick slave quarters, a stone and wood ice house, and a carriage house remain on the grounds.