Archeological Investigations of a Portion of Fort McAllister State Historic Site, Bryan County, Georgia

During October of 1991 Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. conducted a Phase II survey of a portion of Ft. McAllister State Park and Historic Site in Bryan County on the Ogeechee River. The site is approximately a mile north of Ossabaw Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. The area surveyed and tested is a picnic grounds approximately 300 m (984 ft) west of Fort McAllister, an earthen Civil War fort. Proposed plans call for the construction of a fishing pier on the river to be accessed by a handicap walkway leading from a parking area to the pier. Two alternative locations of the pier and a walkway have been proposed and were surveyed. A combination of survey techniques including shovel testing, metal detecting, test units, and surface collecting were implemented. Buried features and an artifact rich midden/plow zone were identified in the southern portion of the project area. These remains date from the early to late nineteenth century and are part of a rice plantation belonging to the McAllister family. Previously recorded site 9Bn22 is a surface scatter of historic material along the river bluff edge. The present survey found historic material extending from the parking area to the bluff edge. Therefore, the boundaries of 9Bn22 have been expanded to include the entire walkway project area. Based on our testing, we recommend that the site is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places at the local level of significance. Since present plans call for the walkway (either option) to intercept a particularly sensitive portion of the site, adverse effects are likely. We see three alternative courses of action:. 1) relocate pier and walkway off site;. 2) conduct data recovery excavation in and adjacent to project area; or. 3) design the walkway so as not to impact the site. From an archeological perspective, alternative 1 is the preferred alternative.