The Compass owner Cliff Cantey was resting Tuesday evening after surgery earlier that day on his face and hands for skin cancer.
That's when he got the worst possible call a business owner could get.
"It was devastating: I'm sitting at home, recovering from surgery, and they call to tell me the restaurant is on fire," Cantey said Wednesday morning, less than 12 hours after the 41-year-old restaurant located on U.S. 378 at Interstate 95 burned to the ground.
"It's just hard to process right now," Cantey said. "I don't know what we're going to do quite yet."
Sumter Fire Department Public Information Officer Joey Duggan said firefighters from Sumter and Clarendon counties were called to the fire about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday. The building was fully involved at the time firefighters arrived, with flames shooting out of the roof, Duggan said.
"It is too early to nail down a cause for the fire," he said. "Our investigators are looking into that."
Cantey would have celebrated five years as owner of the popular eatery next week. He purchased the business in 2011 from the Green family, who originally opened it in August 1975.
Ty Green, a former member of Turbeville Town Council who now lives in Durham, North Carolina, ran the business for the last 15 years his family owned it.
"It almost feels like a family member has passed," Green said. "It was a tough thing to watch. I watched both social media and saw pictures from (The Manning Times). That gave me a chance to keep up with what was going on."
Green spent much of his life at the restuarant until the sale in 2011.
"I remember the customers most," he said. "And what struck me last night was all the people commenting on social media about how much that place meant to them."
Green said his father, Vere Green, and uncle, Earl Green, opened the restaurant 41 years ago in a building formerly operating as a wax and candle shop.
"My grandfather, Herbert Green, started the seafood business in the 1950s in Baltimore, Maryland," Green said. "They wanted a restaurant closer to home. Originally, they were going to build a restaurant in Myrtle Beach."
Fate led them to a little spot about three miles outside of Turbeville just off the interstate.
"My grandfather found that building at I-95, and it was kind of like a Stuckey's," Green said. "It was like one of those places that sells knick-knacks and candles. My family loved the building because of its rustic feel. It was kind of like an old barn."
Over the years, the family made additions to the eastern and northern sides of the restaurant, expanded the kitchen, and finally added a take-out room in the early 1990s.
The Greens also added a covered porch out front.
"We had people that would be waiting outside in the elements to get in, so that was an addition that helped our customers get out of the elements," Green said.
Knowing what went into making The Compass such a success for his family and Cantey, Green said he was devastated to see the building destroyed.
"It was really heartbreaking to see that," he said.
Longtime cook Cora Lee Wheeler agreed.
"It's just hurt, hurt, hurt," she said. "That's all I can say."
Wheeler had worked in the restaurant's kitchen since the first day of operations. She had recently tendered her resignation.
"I'm 71 years old now and it was time to retire," she said. "I won't be looking for another job, but I feel bad for my co-workers who will have to."
Wheeler said the customers are what made her stay for more than four decades.
"A coworker and I were talking (Wednesday morning) and we both said it's the people that keep you there," he said. "The people are so nice and loving. This is painful for them, too. I'm really going to miss the people, and I know they're going to miss us."
