GALENA, Ill. — Carol Gebelt pushed back the curtains in one of the guest rooms at The Steamboat House, and light danced across the blue-and-yellow-striped wallpaper and polished hardwood floor.

“That’s better,” she said. “Nice and bright.”

Across the hallway, her daughter, Katie Burcham, busily changed the towels and freshened up the bathroom in another guest room.

The mother-daughter duo have owned and operated the Galena bed-and-breakfast for 11 years, striving to create a quiet, restful abode for their guests.

“I’ve always liked entertaining, and I like meeting people,” Gebelt said.

The three-story, 7,000-square-foot Gothic Revival mansion was constructed in 1855 for steamboat captain Daniel Smith Harris and his wife, Sarah Coates Harris, who was one of the first licensed female doctors in the state of Illinois.

“She took the exam twice because the first time she took it they wouldn’t give her her license, because she was a woman,” Gebelt said.

In its early years, the home housed not only Sarah’s doctor’s office but also a conservatory where she raised 50 varieties of roses and a hidden tunnel in the basement that served as part of the Underground Railroad.

A third-floor ballroom was frequented by the Harris’ well-to-do acquaintances, including such famous individuals as General and later U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, suffragist Susan B. Anthony and physician Elizabeth Blackwell.

Over the intervening 170 years, the Steamboat House served as a funeral home, was abandoned and used by squatters and became an antique store before former owners Charlene and Glen Carlson turned it into a B&B in 2000.

“Charlene told me that when they came, (the wallpaper) was carefully preserved under two inches of dirt,” Gebelt recalled with a chuckle.

Despite the years of neglect, Gebelt said, The Steamboat House is virtually unchanged structurally since its construction — although there have been some upgrades to provide modern comforts. The third-floor ballroom, for example, now houses heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment.

Gebelt, a native of Elgin, Ill., had worked for the airline industry for years but long harbored a desire to own an inn.

“I decided when I retired, I would like to own a bed-and-breakfast because I had stayed in so many,” she said.

On a “rainy November day,” Gebelt and Burcham drove to Galena to investigate The Steamboat House, which they had seen for sale online.

“As soon as I walked in, I said, ‘I don’t think I need to look any further,’” Gebelt recalled.

She took ownership of the Steamboat House in 2014 and has been at its helm for more than a decade, with her trusty co-captain Burcham along for the ride.

“I love watching her be able to live out her dream,” Burcham said. “This is what she’s always wanted, and I’m glad to be able to help make it come true.”

The Steamboat House’s first floor includes a large foyer, a billiard room that once served as a formal parlor, a more casual “family parlor” and a library where guests can grab books or DVDs.

It also includes the dining room, where breakfast is served each morning at 9 a.m.

On that particular morning, Gebelt said, guests had enjoyed egg muffins and blueberry Dutch babies, a type of oven-baked pancake.

Other popular offerings include croissant breakfast sandwiches and a quiche with a crust of shredded potatoes, gruyere cheese, spinach and bacon, served with spiced pears. Scones and muffins, including pumpkin muffins in the fall, also make regular appearances on the menu.

“What we try to do is make things for breakfast that the guests wouldn’t typically do by themselves,” Gebelt said.

She usually gets up at 6:30 a.m. to begin preparing the meal.

“I’ve always loved cooking, and for years, I was collecting recipes, thinking that on my bucket list was this bed-and-breakfast,” she said. “I have two big binders of recipes.”

In addition to breakfast, guests can enjoy coffee sent up to their rooms in the morning, wine and cheese time in the late afternoon and cookies and hot drinks in the evening.

The B&B includes five two-person rooms, named for friends and relatives of the former owners: Lene, Amanda, Viola, Elsie and Bess.

Each room has a private bathroom, fireplace and TV. Three offer a view of Prospect and Spring streets as they meet in downtown Galena, while two overlook the woods behind the inn.

Many visitors make repeat trips to The Steamboat House, according to Gebelt.

“I have one couple that has been here 34 times since I purchased the inn,” she said.

The young daughter from another family of frequent guests is fond of origami and leaves tiny folded-paper creations all over the inn.

A miniature origami rabbit perched on the sign outside the Elsie room, with a dinosaur squatting next to the antique clock on the first floor.

“She makes elephants, dragons, frogs, everything,” Gebelt said. “I always tell the guests, ‘If you see one you like, take it.’”