A man has been charged with starting a fire that destroyed a nearly century-old home on the site of a coastal Georgia rice plantation that's associated with the largest slave auction in U.S. history, authorities said Friday.
Witnesses described a man they spotted leaving the house after the fire began, and a sheriff's deputy detained a suspect fitting that description, McIntosh County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Ward said in a news release Friday. He said the 33-year-old man had items taken from the house and was charged with arson, theft and other crimes after being questioned by investigators.
By the time of the fire, the Huston House and the surrounding property were owned by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The home was unoccupied and had fallen into disrepair.