Valley View is a mid-19th-century Greek Revival residence and farm overlooking the South Branch Potomac River northwest of Romney, West Virginia.

The rear of the house, with a two-story wood porch stretching across it, faces the South Branch Potomac River valley and Mill Creek Mountain.

[3][4] A post office operated there from 1928 until 1937, when its mail was routed through Romney; it is assumed that Valley View farm used it, since it was 0.5 miles (0.8 km) south of the house.

As well as Valley View's 6.63-acre (2.68 ha) tract, the Mayhew family owns agricultural land rich in alluvial soils along the South Branch Potomac River west of the house.

[15] In 1748, Fairfax commissioned James Genn to survey the South Branch Potomac River lowlands for sale and lease, with lots ranging in size from 300 to 400 acres (120 to 160 ha).

[19] In 1816, Collins was serving as a magistrate when the town of Romney held a Virginia state election for the Electoral College.

[19][28] In 1867 or 1869,[b] she sold the house, the Collins Tract and the remainder of Lot Number 20 to Charles Harmison (1823–1896) for $8,500, moving with her remaining children to Missouri (where she died in 1883).

[33][34] His son George Edward Harmison (1863–1916) inherited Valley View around 1903 and brought his wife, Carrie Belle Fox (1870–1953), there after their marriage on October 4, 1905.

[39] In 1911, George Harmison subdivided the Valley View fields on the Yellow Banks overlooking the South Branch Potomac River.

[31] Paul and Nancy's daughter Virginia Helen Harmison was married to Robert Esler in front of the fireplace in the home's living room on May 5, 1957.

[19][31] During its changes in ownership, the original Lot Number 20 of the South Branch Survey was repeatedly partitioned and sold.

[5] In 1991, the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad began operating on the old B&O South Branch line, which bisects the bottomlands below Valley View.

[44] The other seven were Capon Chapel, Fort Kuykendall, Hickory Grove, Hook Tavern, North River Mills Historic District, Old Pine Church and Springfield Brick House.

[45] According to architectural historian Courtney Fint Zimmerman, "Valley View is a characteristic example of the Greek Revival style for more practical residential applications in outlying areas".

[19] The Valley View house has several Greek Revival design characteristics, including a symmetrical architectural plan and elevations and "substantial, formal" mass.

[45] According to Zimmerman, large houses like Valley View served as the "centers" of the plantations that formed the "basis of the local economy and social life" in Hampshire County.

[19][50] Valley View's house is a two-story brick structure with a rectangular architectural plan and exterior dimensions measuring about 49 by 32 feet (14.9 by 9.8 m).

[30] The front entrance is post and lintel (trabeated) construction, with a six-pane transom and two three-pane sidelight windows around the doorway.

[30][50] Zimmerman suggests that "Big Jim" Parsons embellished his home's front entrance to assert his "wealth and status" and provide "an honored welcome to visitors".

[55] The rear façade of the house faces northeast, across the South Branch Potomac River valley toward Mill Creek Mountain.

[30] The northwestern and southeastern sides of the house have one small square window at attic level, between each pair of inside chimneys.

[50] The original house has eight large rooms, each with a fireplace framed by a wooden geometric trabeated mantelpiece with classical elements.

They contain simple wide wood trim, including skirting boards and door frame moldings with "subtly demarcated corners".

[48] The lone exception is the room serving as an office and den, which has dark stained wooden trim and interior brick structural walls (exposed by the removal of its plaster during the 1960s).

The addition has a gabled standing seam metal roof, and its exterior is covered in white-painted board-and-batten siding.

An enclosed board-and-batten porch, measuring about 14 by 10 feet (4.3 by 3.0 m), and a shed roof extend from the front (southwest) of the kitchen addition.

A ghost building outline on the northwest side of the 1855 house indicates an earlier structure where the present kitchen addition stands.

Built of square-cut logs with white chinking atop a rubble masonry foundation, the smokehouse is topped with a standing seam metal gabled roof.

[48] South of the smokehouse is the brick foundation of an ice house measuring about 15 by 20 feet (4.6 by 6.1 m) and topped by modern wooden pergola and patio structures.

The 15-by-20-foot (4.6 by 6.1 m) brick foundation of Valley View's summer kitchen is north of the smokehouse and topped by a contemporary wooden pavilion with a gabled roof.