When Stephen Posey's family decided to close the family business, Posey Funeral Home, in 1988, he thought it was a good time to open his own funeral business.
On Georgia Avenue, the old granite Our Lady of Peace parish building sat empty. Recently vacated by the Nancy Carson Library, it was the perfect location for Stephen D. Posey Funeral Home, Posey said.
The original family business, begun by Posey's grandfather in Graniteville in 1879, had been located at 507 Georgia Avenue since 1964. Communigraphics now occupies the building.
Posey said in addition to the building's adaptability for his purposes, he liked the historic value of the property.
"It was simply here in North Augusta, and when my family went out of business and we wanted to open, this was ideal for us," he said.
The building, now shaded by two giant Charleston water oaks he called "the real beauty of the property", was built by the church in 1946.
It consisted of a sanctuary, a two-room priest's quarters, a parish hall and a basement boiler room.
"It took us about six months to get the building ready for our purposes," he said.
Posey added awnings to the outdoors to shield bereaved families from the weather, and built ramps to make the entrances handicap accessible.
He also widened the front foyer connecting the chapel with the reception room. Inside the walls, workers found clay and concrete blocks, which had to be removed.
Now it can accommodate a casket on its way to the hearse.
The front foyer had been the church's parish hall, which had two small bathrooms in the rear.
During the library's occupancy from the mid 1960s until 1988, the foyer had been the children's reading library and had dinosaurs painted on the plaster walls, Posey said.
The stone exterior of the original building is still intact inside the funeral home. Posey built on to the rear of the building to include viewing rooms, but left the original walls intact and walled in the windows.
The plaster walls were covered with sheetrock, and crown molding was added to the tops of the walls throughout the building. The basement now contains an employee lounge and a records room.
The funeral home is decorated with paintings and lithographs from local artists. Posey said every item of decoration is related to North Augusta or Aiken County.
He has no plans to change anything about the structure in the future. However, he may add a historical display of his grandfather's equipment.
"We (will) just continue to keep it in the immaculate condition we think it's in and maintain it," he said.
This is a continuing feature that spotlights historic homes and buildings in North Augusta.
Reach Lisa Kaylor at lisa.kaylor@northaugustatoday.com.
