In the History of North Augusta Volume I , a grainy black and white photograph shows the construction of a two-story house in the middle of nowhere in 1898. A dusty road climbs a hill in front of the house and, if a reader looks carefully, splits at the intersection of present-day Carolina and Georgia avenues.
The Scott family built the home on what later became Georgia Avenue, one of the main arteries through town.
"It's really one of the oldest structures within the old city limits," said Billy Thurmond, the home's current owner.
In the early 1900s the Scott family sold the home to Berry Benson, whose name has come to be most closely associated with the edifice.
Benson lived there until his death in 1923.
Benson, who was born in Hamburg in 1843, became a local hero after serving the Confederate army during the Civil War, where he escaped imprisonment three times by the Union army, according to The New Georgia Encyclopedia .
His likeness stands atop the Confederate monument in the center of Broad Street in Augusta. It is a tribute to the anonymous soldiers who fought in the war.
"Growing up in North Augusta, I knew about him," Thurmond said. "I knew he was a local hero."
When Thurmond and his colleague, John Velky, decided to open a clinic in downtown North Augusta, they looked for an old home because they wanted their office to have a warm atmosphere.
The Benson house fell in their laps.
The house had been moved back from the road several feet to make room for the Exxon gas station, which is currently owned by Ken and Pat Carpenter.
The run-down structure had become shelter for homeless people. The Carpenters wanted to expand their station, so they offered it to Thurmond and Velky for free if they moved it, Thurmond said.
"His generosity and our desire to be downtown and have a house with historic significance all came together," Thurmond said.
In 1998, he moved the house to its current location at 309 West Avenue, completely restored the first floor and added a new wing to the back.
Medical records and offices fill what were once bedrooms on the first floor, and patients wait to be seen in the home's original living room and dining room.
A side porch was enclosed to create a hallway between the original house and the new wing. The house's original kitchen, located off of that hallway, serves as a staff break room.
Thurmond said he and Velky achieved their goal by setting up their practice in the house.
"It feels like home," Thurmond said. "It doesn't feel like you're going into a doctor's office."
This is a continuing series of historic homes in North Augusta.
Reach Lisa Kaylor at lisa.kaylor@northaugustatoday.com.
