In this house is a bed of unique type, known as "a family bed". It is a huge four-poster with silken tester. As broad as it is long, there is plenty of room for six persons to sleep comfortably!
Ante-bellum gardens wherein grow verbena, gardenia, and sweet olive, with clipped boxwood borders, complete the handsome setting of Oakland.
Life at Richmond today seems a continuous house party. The present owners (seven daughters, one son, and one granddaughter of the late Shelby Marshall) are the fifth and sixth generations of the illustrious Levin R. Marshall family to own and occupy this old and hospitable mansion. It contains 41 rooms.
The architecture of Richmond shows three distinct styles. The original center building, 153 years old, is of Spanish design; the front, 105 years old, is of Greek design; and 77 years ago the square English portion of the house was built.
The Spanish part, constructed of sturdy hand-hewn timbers, brick, and cement, is in an excellent state of preservation. It has stood without reconstruction throughout the years. There is a cement patio on the ground level, and cypress steps with artistic iron grill rails reach the main floor from the outside. Here one can sound the door knocker, and soon hear heavy wooden bars being lifted. This was the security against Indians and other intruders of early days, and such protection remains intact at Richmond.
In 1832 Richmond became the property of Levin R. Marshall, great-great-grandfather of the present owners, and it was he who added the lovely Greek portion. This addition contains six large rooms on the main floor and four in the basement.
Twenty-eight years later, in order to accommodate a rapidly growing family and numbers of guests, the red brick English addition was built in the rear.
The main entrance has a front portion with classic Corinthian columns supporting the roof. A broad hall, the length of two twenty-foot rooms, runs through the center to a formal dining room. This formal room opens with four tall folding doors into a smaller family dining room. There are double drawing rooms on the left side of the great hall.
The massive old furniture remains today in Richmond, as does the family silver, which is the most ornate and beautiful silver service in the entire South.