E. Lamar Little, a developer, said, “We wanted to attract some interest throughout the state of Alabama at the time, and we thought the best thing to do was to get some of the political people to start coming down.”

But governors scarcely traveled to the home. Wallace, for instance, skipped the dedication and, according to newspaper accounts in the state archives, was at most an infrequent visitor.

In 1997, Hurricane Danny so devastated the site that it could not be used without expensive repairs that would have been electorally risky. (Mr. Bentley is Alabama’s fourth governor since the hurricane.)

And so the home became rotted and worn, even as neighbors repeatedly complained. It stayed that way until Mr. Bentley eventually settled on his solution: what he described as “leftovers” from a $25 million grant that BP provided in June 2010.

“The needs have been met along the coast,” said Mr. Bentley. He said he wanted to use the refurbished property for economic development, events for foster children and official entertaining.

That assessment has drawn some scorn in coastal communities. “Obviously, there are other things out there that are arguably more important, more pressing that could use that amount of money,” said Mayor Jeff Collier of Dauphin Island. “We still have unmet needs, and, unfortunately, after it’s all said and done, we’ll probably still have those.”