A dogwood driveway ascends to Pleasant View on Norwood Road, overlooking the valley of the Northwest Branch. The home was built in its present form in about 1870 by Amos Holland, member of the family that shaped much of early Norwood and Brighton. The Annals note that Holland installed an advanced hydraulic motor to supply water to his outbuildings. On his death in 1901 they added that "he completely disproved the theory that neatness is incompatible with success." Pleasant View stands beside the new James Hubert Blake High School.

Alfred Tolson savors his pipe and family on the porch of the O'Hare, or Tolson, House off Good Hope Road, c.1890s. With him are wife Catherine and five of their six children. Tolson was a Confederate soldier and Judge of the Orphans Court. Daughter Nan became Mrs. George F. Bonifant, and son Zeph became a truck farmer on Briggs Chaney Road. O'Hare House is now the home of Martha Lanigan.