Archaeological and Historical Investigations of Portions of Merrell/Curtright Mill Village Sites 9GE37 and 9GE1665 Greene County, Georgia

This report documents the results of archeological data recovery excavations on portions of a mid-nineteenth century cotton mill village in Greene County, Georgia. The factory is known by several names that include Curtright Manufacturing Company, Curtright Factory, Merrell Factory, and Oconee Mills. The mill village was originally known as Merrell but was later called Curtright. The majority of the mill village lies within the boundaries of archeological site 9GE37, most of which is now flooded by the waters of Lake Oconee. Site numbers 9GE1665 and 9GE1667 are considered part of the village complex, but have been assigned discrete site numbers. Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS), conducted work in late 2002 through early 2003 under the direction of the principal investigator.

The project area is located in southwestern Greene County, Georgia, on the west side of the Oconee River (Lake Oconee). Data recovery was necessary because Reynolds Plantation, the owner of the property, planned to develop house lots overlooking the lake. The primary field work consisted of an extensive hand excavation (79.75 m2) on a non-domestic structure on site 9GE1665 (formerly designated as mill village Structure 11), smaller hand excavations ranging from 27.5 to 46 m2, on four mill houses (Structures 1, 2, 12, and 36), mapping of the village cemetery, and systematic metal detecting of four site areas to search for evidence of non-domestic structures such as warehouses or barns. A limited amount of excavation was conducted in one area that contained evidence of a sparse Archaic lithic scatter. The study also included a thorough examination of historic documents and other archival sources related to the history of the factory.

The excavations of the structures uncovered chimney and house foundations, and on some of the house sites, small deposits of sheet midden. The excavations produced substantial amounts of Historic period artifacts, the majority of which were architectural. Moderate amounts of kitchen-related artifacts and other artifact groups dated the period of occupation from ca. 1845 to 1865. Mapping of the factory cemetery resulted in the identification of 109 graves. Systematic metal detecting of four areas that had previously shown no evidence of mid-nineteenth century occupation produced scatters of cut nails and smaller amounts of other types of artifacts, which indicated the presence of non-domestic structures. These non-domestic structure locations are thought to have contained barns, sheds, or enclosures for livestock, related to the operation of the factory.

The study was conducted as a part of the Section 404 permitting as required by a Memorandum of Agreement entered into by Reynolds Plantation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office. Acceptance of this report by the regulatory agencies fulfills the requirements of data recovery field excavations on Structures 1, 2, 12, and 36 on site 9GE37 and site 9GE1665. According to the mitigation plan for the project, Structures 28-35 on 9GE37, the cemetery on 9GE37, and site 9GE1667 are to be preserved in place.