From November of 2007 through April of 2008, Southeastern Archeological Services conducted an archeological survey of 14.7 mi (23.7 km) of proposed transmission line in Oconee, Clarke and Jackson Counties (Gresham 2008). Eleven sites were discovered and described, including the Damron Family Cemetery on Brock Road in Jackson County. The Damron Cemetery has about 25 graves in four rows. Death dates range from 1889 to 1950. A little less than half the graves are marked with tombstones, the rest by fieldstones and metal plaques. Oddly, the graves are not oriented east-west as with most cemeteries, but at a 135 to 140 degree orientation, to match the adjoining Brock Road. Today the cemetery is free of undergrowth and is ringed in large oak trees (Figures 1 and 2).
In Gresham's 2008 report, he stated that the proposed new transmission line would be aligned with the current, smaller Athens-Arcade transmission line, which nicks the southeast comer of the cemetery. Gresham (2008) concluded that the new line would have no direct, physical effect on the cemetery, but could have a visual effect. However, since the new line would be higher and the since the closest pole would be much further away than the present pole, he suggested that there may be no greater visual effect than presently exists.
In 2009 Georgia Transmission Corporation decided to reroute a 1,600-ft length of the proposed Bethabara to Clarksboro transmission line to angle it away from the Damron Cemetery.
The new centerline will be a minimum of 50 ft (17. 4 m) from the edge of the cemetery and the closest pole (on the edge of Brock Road) will be about 300 ft (100 m) away, to the southeast.
Southeastern Archeological Services was asked to revisit the cemetery to ensure that no graves extend beyond the visibly obvious graves within the fenced cemetery and to ensure that no archeological sites exist in the newly revised transmission line corridor. The reinspection was conducted by the author on July 1 7, 2009 and this addendum is the report of those investigations. In addition to probing to seek other graves and shovel testing the new section of corridor, the author also used a tape and compass to make a more precise map of the cemetery.
The rerouted segment is about 1,600 ft long as it angles away from the Damron Cemetery at a slight angle (Figure 3). The revised segment south of Brock Road lies in a low area and was not shovel tested because the original shovel testing was deemed adequate. The segment north of Brock Road crosses a ridge crest and then traverses the side of this crest, all of which is in pasture. Five shovel tests were excavated on 30-m intervals along this segment, including one at the proposed pole location on the north side of Brock Road. All tests were sterile. Those on and near the ridge crest had about 10 cm of reddish-brown clay loam overlying red clay and those lower on the side slope had 15 to 25 cm of reddish brown or greyish brown sandy clay loam overlying red clay subsoil.
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