By Charles Booth

 

During the brutal winter of 1777-78, when General George Washington and his Continental Army camped at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the soldiers probably dreamed of moving south. With freezing temperatures and low supplies, Washington called the camp “a dreary kind of place and uncomfortably provided,” – a far cry from the modern-day Brentwood. Fifteen years after this famous wintertime camp, a young patriot named Joseph Ferebee, having survived the cold and the Red Coats and the scabies, saw his wish come true. In 1793, he was awarded several hundred remote acres in the southern U.S., thanks to a North Carolina Military Land Grant.

 

Today, Brentwood’s The Governors Club – a private golf club community with an Arnold Palmer designed championship course – sits on this site. Ferebee sold the land to William Winstead, and over the last 231 years, Winstead’s descendants erected cabins, log homes, and large southern mansions on the property. In the mid-nineteenth century, William Winstead’s son, John, inherited his father’s land, and a few years before the Civil War, he had his enslaved men produce bricks and limestone blocks for a new house. These enslaved workers toiled for three years, and in 1858, Pleasant Hill, Winstead’s two-story Greek Revival home, opened its doors.

 

John Winstead died in 1896, and ownership of Pleasant Hill passed to William Owen Edmondson and his wife, Hettie Fly. The Edmondson’s grandchildren eventually sold the property, and in 1996, the Brentwood City Commission approved The Governors Club, creating Brentwood’s first private, gated community with 438 luxury home sites and a premiere eighteen-hole golf course.

 

Located on over 600 rolling acres, the Pleasant Hill mansion is now the centerpiece of that community. The 166-year-old Antebellum home was painstakingly restored, and the timeless elegance of its rooms serve as a meeting place for residents and venue for weddings and other social events. The journey of Pleasant Hill Mansion reflects a transformative American saga, evolving from a Patriot’s reward to a beacon of modern luxury, and stands as a testament to the enduring spirit of change and preservation.