In July 2019, Trileaf Corporation (Trileaf) performed a cultural resource inventory survey for a proposed self-support lattice tower telecommunication facility located in Glascock County, Gibson, Georgia (Latitude: 33° 13’ 29.97” Longitude: -82° 35’ 28.37”). The project location is located within grassed and wooded land with portions of the proposed access and utility easement located within an existing graded dirt, gravel, and paved drive.
Verizon Wireless proposes the construction of a new self-support lattice cell tower with a total height of 255 feet (77.7 meters). The new tower and associated equipment will be situated within a proposed approximate 100 x 100-foot (30.5 x 30.5 meter) cell tower lease area. A proposed approximate 30 x 1,900-foot (9.1 x 579.1 meter) access and utility easement will travel generally northwest to connect to Calhoun Street. Total acreage of the new construction area is approximately 0.36 acres (0.15 Hectares).
Senior Project Archaeologist Zach Horne, M.A., RPA, under the direction of Trileaf, performed this survey in response to the planned use of the above-described parcel and the potential impacts that such use might represent to archaeological and architectural cultural resources. The Phase I cultural resource survey was designed to discover all prehistoric and historical period cultural resources that might be present within the project area.
The field survey of the project area, which included a pedestrian survey, shovel testing, and visual inspection, found no evidence for the presence of archaeological or architectural properties in relation to the current project area’s Direct APE. Additionally, no National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-listed properties were identified within the project area’s Direct APE. Based on a map and survey form search using the resources of the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office including topographical maps and their GNAHRGIS GIS platform, inspections of the Georgia Archaeological Site Files (GASF 2019), as well as the resources of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) conducted by Zach Horne, Senior Project Archaeologist of the Trileaf Corporation and Kevin McHugh, CEO of Architectural Research LLC, identified one (1) NRHP-listed historical resource (NPS# 80001082/Glascock County Courthouse, and one (1) 1974 Glascock County survey NRHP-eligible identified multiple resource area (MRA-Town of Gibson), located within the ¾-mile visual APE, one (1) archaeological site, and one (1) archaeological survey previously identified within Trileaf Corporation’s 1-mile background research radius. Additionally, due to the fact that there is an extant water tower with collocated telecommunication antennas within close proximity to the proposed project location, as well as distance, and intervening buildings and vegetation, the proposed project will not adversely affect the character-defining features that make the Glascock County Courthouse NRHP-listed, or the MRA-Town of Gibson NRHP-eligible under Criterion A (Industry, Community Planning and Development), Criterion C (Architecture, Landscape Architecture) and Criterion D (Historic, Non-Aboriginal).
Based on these findings, Trileaf recommends No Historic Properties in the Direct APE and No Adverse Effect to Historic Properties within the ¾-mile Visual APE. It is therefore recommended that project clearance be granted with no further investigation or evaluation of the project area relative to those resources.
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