Where the Seven Gables once majestically overlooked downtown North Augusta, there is only a patio and a few old motel rooms.
It's been one year since the house went up in flames, and the historic land is waiting for someone to buy it.
North Augusta residents would like to see someone turn the property into something useful for the community.
Suggestions include a park, a restaurant, a drive-in movie theater and an airport.
"Whatever's done there, it'd be a great idea to build a viewing tower," wrote Bill Allen on a Facebook survey. "Already high on the hill, it'd have a great sight-seeing view of Augusta."
In February, owner Robin Dunn put the land on the market for $595,000.
The price was reduced Monday to $495,000, said listing agent Sallie Dubay of Meybohm Realty.
Dunn did not return phone calls last week.
City officials said they don't know what's going to happen with the property.
"My understanding is that it was settled," said Skip Grkovic, the director of economic and community development, in reference to the insurance claims.
However, he did not know which insurance company handled the claims or any of the details.
Grkovic said the city hopes that whatever is built on the site will "fit in" with the historic integrity of the Edgefield Historic District around it.
He also said the city has no interest in purchasing the property because of the price.
"We'd love to see a nice restaurant go in there," he said.
The historic building was built in 1903 as a hunting lodge for the Hampton Terrace Hotel, which also burned in 1916.
Before that, the building served as a private residence for author Edison Marshall and as a boardinghouse in the 1950s. It earned a colorful reputation in the 1980s as the Buffalo Room, when owners Bruce and Rose Salter's license was revoked for refusing to serve blacks.
In the 1990s, the property was seized from their son, Randy Salter, who went to prison for selling marijuana and laundering money.
Dunn bought the property in 2007. After restoring it, she opened the Palmetto House at Seven Gables as a meeting facility in March 2007 and as a restaurant in October 2007.
North Augusta Public Safety got a call about 10:30 p.m. Sept. 4 that the building was on fire. A gas line behind the building exploded at about 11 p.m.
By the next morning, Seven Gables was reduced to rubble.
Public Safety said they still have not determined a cause for the fire, but said it was not arson.
Reach Lisa Kaylor at lisa.kaylor@northaugustatoday.com.
ONLINE EXTRA: Click here to watch video of the fire.
