page_title: Valley View (Romney, West Virginia)
section_title: Geography and setting
hierarchical_section_title: Valley View (Romney, West Virginia) / Geography and setting
caption_attribution_description: English: South Branch Potomac River near Romney Bridge, Romney, West Virginia, United States.
context_page_description: Valley View is a mid-19th-century Greek Revival residence and farm overlooking the South Branch Potomac River northwest of Romney, West Virginia. The house is atop a promontory where Depot Valley joins the South Branch Potomac River valley.
  The Valley View property was part of the South Branch Survey of the Northern Neck Proprietary, a large tract that was inherited by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, in 1719. It was settled by John Collins and his family in 1749, and acquired by the Parsons family before 1772. The Valley View house was built by James Parsons Jr. in 1855. After the Civil War, Parsons' widow sold the farm to Charles Harmison. His wife, Elizabeth Harmison, inspired by her childhood Virginia home, Western View, and the scenic South Branch Potomac River views, named the farm Valley View. The most recent of a series of owners, the Mayhew family, bought the property in 1979. Valley View's current proprietors, Robert and Kim Mayhew, have restored the historic residence and grounds.
  The house at Valley View is a two-story brick structure with a rectangular architectural plan.
context_section_description: The Valley View house is about 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of downtown Romney, atop a promontory (known locally as the Yellow Banks) where Depot Valley joins the South Branch Potomac River valley. Depot Valley runs 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from West Sioux Lane in Romney to Valley View, and an unnamed tributary of Big Run flows north along its bottom. Depot Valley Road parallels the stream.
  Depot Valley is named for Romney Depot, located at the end of a former spur of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) South Branch line near the intersection of present-day West Sioux Lane and Depot Valley Road.The unincorporated area around the depot was once known as Valley. 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.
  The Valley View farm property adjoins the Wappocomo farm on the northeast, the corporate limits of Romney on the east and south and the Yellow Banks on the west. 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. The South Branch Valley Railroad bisects this farmland, crossing the South Branch Potomac River via a wooden trestle.
  Valley View Island, an island in the South Branch Potomac River just north of the mouth of Sulphur Spring Run, is approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km) southwest of the Valley View house. Both the house and the island are owned by the Mayhew family. The island is ringed by forests, with agricultural fields in its center. When Lots Number 17 and 19 of the Northern Neck Proprietary South Branch Survey were surveyed in 1749 and resurveyed in 1788, the island belonged to Lot Number 19. At that time, the river flowed east of the island, along the base of the Yellow Banks; its course later changed to run around the west side of the island.
  Mill Creek Mountain, a narrow anticlinal mountain ridge, rises westward from the South Branch Potomac River across from Valley View. The western foothills of South Branch Mountain rise to the east. Both mountains are covered with Appalachian – Blue Ridge forests of hardwoods and pine.
caption: Mill Creek Mountain, seen from the South Branch Potomac River south of Valley View Island
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