Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Old Jackson Road 115/25 kV Substation, Henry County, Georgia

On April 1, 2014 Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) conducted a Phase I archeological survey of a wooded and grassy, triangular-shaped tract of land about 3 km (2 mi) east of McDonough, in Henry County (Figure 1 ). The Georgia Transmission Corporation (OTC) intends to construct a 115/25 kV substation on this tract and OTC commissioned SAS to conduct the survey. The survey was undertaken in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended. This act requires that federal agencies that fund or license projects, in this case the Rural Utilities Service, must take into account the effects of an undertaking on significant cultural resources. The first step in this process is to conduct an archeological survey of the project area (area of potential effect) to locate sites, and to the extent possible, evaluate their significance in terms of eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The area of potential effect (APE) for this project is the entire 1.2 ha (2.9 ac) triangular shaped tract of land that fronts on Old Jackson Road (Figure 2). This tract is bisected by the McDonough-Ola 115 kV transmission line that was constructed in 1988 and 1989. The northwestern and eastern boundaries of the tract are property lines and the southwestern boundary is the edge of the right-of-way for Old Jackson Road. The northern portion of the tract is wooded (Figure 3), the transmission line corridor is grassy and the southern portion of the tract is lightly wooded, with grass growing amid the dispersed trees (Figure 4). There was no surface exposure on the tract. The tract was also nearly level, with almost no perceptible relief.