Cultural Resources Survey of the ORCHARDS Telecommunication Project, Griffin, Spalding County, Georgia Trileaf Project #681545

In June 2021, Trileaf Corporation (Trileaf) performed a cultural resource inventory survey for a proposed self-support lattice communications tower located in Spalding County, Griffin, Georgia Latitude: 33° 10’ 48.57” N, Longitude: 84° 11’ 12.503” W. The project location is located within a wooded area. Verizon Wireless proposes to construct a 255-foot self-support communications tower, with an overall height of 265 feet including all appurtenances, and associated equipment within an 80-foot by 80-foot fenced compound within a 100-foot by 100-foot (10,000-square-foot) lease area. The project includes a 12- foot-wide gravel drive within a 30-foot-wide access/utility easement, which extends approximately 385 feet east then south from the lease area to Lamar County Line Road. The proposed project area is located within a wooded area.

Project Archaeologist Colin Bean, M.A., under the direction of Trileaf, performed this survey in response to the planned use of the above-described parcel and the potential impacts that such use might represent to archaeological and architectural cultural resources. The Phase I cultural resource survey was designed to discover all prehistoric and historical period cultural resources that might be present within the project area.

The field survey of the project area, which included a pedestrian survey, shovel testing, and visual inspection, yielded no evidence for the presence of archaeological or architectural properties within the Direct APE for the current project. Additionally, no NRHP-listed or eligible properties were identified within the proposed project’s Direct or Visual APE (0.75-mile radius). Based on these findings, Trileaf recommends No Historic Properties in both the APE-DE and the APE-VE. It is therefore recommended that project clearance be granted with no further investigation or evaluation of the project area relative to those resources.