Fire rips through Civil War-era home in Stone Mountain Park, Georgia officials say
Investigators are looking into the cause of a fire that ripped through a historic home at Georgia’s Stone Mountain State Park.
Crews were called early Tuesday, Nov. 14, when fire alarms started blaring between 2 and 3 a.m. in the park’s Historic Square, WSB-TV and WAGA reported, citing Stone Mountain Park Police spokesperson John Bankhead.
Firefighters arrived to find the top half of the Davis House “engulfed in flames,” Bankhead told WSB-TV.
Once known as The Dickey House, the pre Civil War-era manor was originally built between the 1840s and 1850s on a sprawling plantation in Dickey, near Albany, Georgia, according to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
It was occupied by Charles Milton Davis, later a Confederate colonel, and his descendants until the 6,250-square-foot home was deconstructed, moved piece by piece and restored in Stone Mountain in 1961, the newspaper reported.
Photos and video of the fire showed heavy smoke and flames billowing from the building’s roof.
A “sizable” number of valuable artifacts and antiques representing the 1800s were lost in the blaze, Bankhead told McClatchy News in a phone interview. He also mentioned heavy water damage as fire crews worked to douse the flames.
Authorities said the cause of the fire is under investigation, and it’s unclear if the historic home can be rebuilt.
“I’m not sure of which parts in the lower part of the home that do not have as much fire damage, but as far as the home goes, I believe it will be a total loss,” Captain Jaeson Daniels with Dekalb County Fire Rescue told Atlanta News First.
No injuries were reported, authorities said.
Stone Mountain Park is about 20 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.
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