ARCHEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE OF THE PROPOSED ATHENS MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER, CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA

In early September, 2000, Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., conducted an archeological reconnaissance of the proposed Athens Multimodal Transportation Center, located in the old industrial section of town (Figure 1). The survey was undertaken at the request of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division, who had concerns that archeological sites might be impacted by the proposed new complex.

The reconnaissance survey was conducted by Chad Braley and Thomas Gresham on September 8, 2000. In addition to a field visit, the survey included consultation with the Georgia Archeological Site Files and research of Sanborn Fire Insurance Company maps dated 1893, 1908, 1913 and 1926. Figure 2 is a compilation of the pertinent information from the Sanborn Maps. As shown, eight houses, three warehouses, a passenger depot, the Athens gas works and storage tanks, a railroad turntable, and at least three railroad spurs were within the project boundaries. None of the buildings are still standing.

The following historic background was obtained from Braley (1998). The character of the project area, from the late nineteenth century until comparatively recently, was defined by the railroads. They brought great changes to the landscape and altered the configuration of Athens.

The first, the Georgia Railroad, arrived in 1841. This connected Athens with Greensboro and Augusta, but terminated at Carr's Hill on the east side of the river. It was not until 1888 that a trestle was built across the North Oconee River which permitted the development of the railroad yards within the project area. In the late 1880s, dynamite transformed the project area into a series of terraces for railroad sidings (Figure 3). The now abandoned CSX Railroad (formerly the Georgia Railroad), which forms the eastern boundary of the survey area, was constructed in 1888, and the Norfolk-Southern Railroad (the western boundary) was built in 1893, the same year as the earliest Sanborn map.