CAMDEN, S.C. — Laurie Parks and her husband, who own three historical buildings in downtown Camden, are working on trying to bring back what they say Camden used to be.
"I was on city council from 2012 to 2016 and going around to other small southern towns and seeing their revitalization projects going on, it was just why can't Camden do this? And when the opportunity came that some of the buildings came up for sale, we started the process."
While the two have opened a wine bar and apartments in one building, they are working on plans for the other two.
"There is something Camden just does not have, we do not have a lot of outdoor dining space. We have whatever on Broad Street, which is limited, but whatever we bring into that building, we want to have a huge indoor-outdoor area," Parks said.
The couple says they want to make sure the buildings keep their historical looks.
"It is an old bank building, it also has some gorgeous skylights that we uncovered, that the previous owners had dropped the ceiling down and roofed over it, so there pretty much in tact."
The two have even helped open up a new alleyway, allowing residents to get from one side of town to the other.
"There's no way to access parking behind this side of Broad Street, something that was needed, and our gift to the city."