SANFORD, Fla. -- A beautiful, historic house was once one of the finest homes in Sanford, and if a local woman gets her way, it will be again.

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Woman Wants To Revive History In Sanford

Deborah Jarvis Smith grew up in the house, and even after she moved away, she couldn't get the house or its memories out of her mind. She bought it back, and now she wants to share it with everyone, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.

"I was terrified to come home because we all know you can't go home," Smith said.

Smith wants to prove them wrong, so she bought her old home back.

"I wouldn't come to the house in all the years it had been unoccupied. I was terrified that I would get emotional," she said.

As her parents grew old and eventually passed away, the house fell into terrible disrepair. But that's when Smith got an idea -- why not buy it and restore it as a place to celebrate life's memorable moments?

"I want to bring life back into this home and to Sanford and to have Sanford have the aura of being a quaint, charming, lovely town as it did," she said.

She wants to open up the place where she learned the hula hoop and went for her very first pony ride for weddings, meetings and special events.

"I have the love of what mother and dad and my grandmothers could give me through the memories of the house," she said.

She said she thinks she knows what her family would think of her project.

"Oh, I can hear my father, 'Deborah Ann, you're spending too much money.' And I can see mother. And mother's idea was, 'As long as it's beige. If you paint anything, as long as it's beige, it's fine,'" she said.

Smith hopes allowing others to make their own memories on the property will give the old house all the color it needs.

"This is a destination. It's always been in Sanford," she said.

She was set to open her home to the public last month, but damage from the hurricanes set her back indefinitely.

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