Archeological Delineation of a Portion of the Providence Cemetery, Bartow County, Georgia

The Cartersville Church of God established the Providence Cemetery on a 25-acre tract of land north of State Route 20 and east of U.S. Highway 411 on the north side of Cartersville. Embedded near the center of this 25-ac tract was a late nineteenth century cemetery, which has remained largely untouched. In the last several years, the church began using the northern portion of the tract for burials. The church now wishes to reduce the size of the cemetery almost in half by abandoning and selling the southern half (Figure 1). The nineteenth century cemetery would be retained as part of the Providence Cemetery. In accordance with OCGA 36-72-4, Bartow County views this transfer of a portion of the cemetery as a land use change that could disturb a known cemetery, and thus is requiring a permit as called for in OCGA 36-72-5. The application for a permit requires five documents, one of which is "a report prepared by an archeologist stating the number of graves believed to be present and their location as can be determined from the use of minimally invasive investigation techniques, including remote sensing methods and the use of metal probes, which activities shall not require a permit" (OCGA 36-72-5[2]). The purposes of this provision are to help ensure detection of all graves by having trained professional archeologists involved and to gauge the number of graves so that all involved understand the scope of the project if they are to be moved. The present document is the report of the archeologist (the author) and is submitted as fulfillment of OCGA 36-72-5(2).