James Husk, 61, was stopped by police Thursday. He later told Vermont State Police detectives that he set fire to his barn, which contained antique tractors, another nearby barn and a Grange building.
The Grange building on U.S. Route 7 was scheduled to undergo $1 million worth of renovations so it could be converted into town offices and a community center.
Husk was due in court in Middlebury Friday to answer the arson charges, police said.
The Ferrisburgh select board held an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss the future of the restoration of the 137-year-old Grange hall.
The fire at the Grange building was reported early Tuesday morning. The fire at Husk's barn was reported early Thursday morning. The third fire, in another barn, was reported Monday night.
Select board members -- who the night before the Grange hall burned had signed a letter of intent with a contractor -- talked with townspeople and preservation experts Thursday about what to do.
Eric Gilbertson, deputy state historic-preservation officer, encouraged board and Grange committee members to salvage as much as they could from the building, to dismantle rather than demolish it. Reconstructing the building accurately would keep the project eligible for historic-preservation grants, Gilbertson said.
''You could really do an accurate, not-to-be-told-different-from-the-outside reconstruction,'' he said. ''All the pieces are there. Our money would stay in the pot.''
The interior could be built to suit the town's needs, he said. Plans called for moving the Town Clerk's Office to the first floor and creating an open community hall on the second. Reconstruction might not cost much more than rehabilitating the Grange hall, Gilbertson said.
About $725,000 had been raised for the project, and more donations and grants were anticipated, fund-raiser Jean Richardson said. More donations were coming in Thursday as word of the fire spread, she said. The building, owned by the town, was insured for $650,000.
The board agreed to discuss options for the town-center project with the community -- including using other sites and other buildings -- although continuing at the Grange was the favored solution.
