This photo gallery relates to: Col. Tiilinghast L'Hommedieu Huston and Lena Belle (Glathart) Huston

The Huston House on Butler Island, Georgia

Butler Island is located on the Altamaha River delta just South of Darien, Georgia. During the 19th century, it was a rice plantation where, before the Civil War, hundreds of slaves labored in harsh conditions.

Till Huston bought Butler Island Plantation in 1926 and built this house and established a beautiful garden soon afterwards. The design of the house was inspired by Le Petit Trianon, a Neoclassical style château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France, which Till had visited when he was in France.[1] Till credited his wife, Lena Belle, for the artistic landscaping (which no longer exists) on the property.[2]

The three-storey Huston House had a total of 11 spacious rooms, including several grand reception rooms, six bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. The house was destroyed in a fire on June 26, 2024.

In addition to the photos below, see photographer Brian Brown's Vanishing Georgia website which has some beautiful photos of the interior of the Huston House.

Huston home front view
Huston home back view
Huston home side view
First floor staircase
First floor parlor 1
First floor parlor 2
Door knob
Master bathroom
Third floor bedroom
Butler Island aerial view
Butler Island aerial view 2
Huston house aerial view
Rice fields

Footnotes & Sources

  1. [1] Sources:
    • Judith Huston Ely, granddaughter of Till Huston, as told to Hope Stewart, November 1997.
    • Harvey Frommer, The New York Yankee Encyclopedia: the complete record of Yankee baseball including the 1996 world championship season (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1997), p250.
  2. [2] "Huston Builds Agricultural Paradise on Georgia Isles", The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta GA), 28 December 1930, p 7. Newspapers.com

Published 16 July 2023. Last updated 6 June 2026.

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