Anne Thomasson bought and began restoring the Carriage House Inn in 1987.
Thomasson recently received the Stewardship Award from the Historic Aiken Foundation for being a good steward of the property at 139 Laurens St. N.W.
Her goal is to maintain responsibly the history and integrity of the home while continuing to improve it.
"It's nice that they do these awards because it saves properties," said Thomasson, whose inn soon will be placed on the historic registry. "The awards bring attention to preserving architecture and for people to love our history, and that's a really good thing."
Built in 1872, the house originally was called a "two over two," with two rooms downstairs and two rooms up.
At the time, the house was considered to be "a little bit in the country" on Laurens Street, Thomasson said, with Park Avenue now considered the center of town.
In 1927, Isadore Efron, who ran a taxi and garage service for Aiken's Winter Colony, bought and expanded the property.
The double entrance to the inn's main parlor on the first floor from one of the original two downstairs rooms marks the beginnings of the additions.
About three years ago, Thomasson began renovating the building's façade.
She built a portico over the front door so that her guests would not get wet when it rained. She added new siding and shutters that are as close to historically accurate as possible.
She also had a wrap-around porch built on the back of the house.
"It made it look so much better aesthetically," Thomasson said.
Thomasson has been passionate about saving and renovating old homes since the first time she bought and restored a home in Batesburg.
Since then, she has restored close to 20 houses, doing most of the work herself - including plastering walls and stripping wood floors.
"There's just this huge satisfaction," Thomasson said about the work of restoring old houses. "I know this might sound crazy, but I think these old homes almost have souls. They tell stories. You feel their love; and once you get through with them, it's like saving a life."
An Aiken native, Larry Wood is a general assignment reporter for the Aiken Standard.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that the Carriage House Inn has always been on Laurens Street in downtown Aiken, and was never on Park Avenue.