Phase I Archaeological Survey for Signal Upgrades at One Location on I-20 and Nine Locations along SR 139 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive SW)

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) plans to make improvements to signals at one location on I-20 and nine locations along SR 139 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive SW) in Fulton County, Georgia under GDOT P.I. No. 0013211. New South Associates, Inc. (New South) conducted a Phase I Archaeological Survey of the planned undertaking pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, in preparation for construction related to upcoming signal upgrades. All work adheres to the Memorandum of Understanding (dated 2019) among the Federal Highway Administration, Georgia Department of Transportation, and Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer Regarding Definition of the Section 106 Area of Potential Effect for Historic and Archaeological Resources for GDOT Traffic Operations Projects: Improvements to Existing Signalized Intersections. Field methods for this survey included systematic shovel testing, metal detection, soil probing, landscape inspection, and ground-penetrating radar survey (GPR). Metal detection was conducted at four of the intersections due to their location within the Ezra Church Study Area established by the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) and Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWAC). GPR survey was conducted at one intersection due to its APE crossing into Westview Cemetery. As a result of the survey, one archaeological site was newly identified, the McDonald Family Cemetery (9FU798). Two previously recorded sites, Westview Cemetery (9FU721) and the Ezra Church Civil War Battle Site (9FU83), were revisited. A GPR survey within a portion of Westview Cemetery adjacent to the current APE resulted in the identification of 94 anomalies without uniform density. The precise location of burials associated with the McDonald Family Cemetery were not identified because the markers and other surface features of the cemetery were moved from their original locations. The presence or absence of graves in the tested portions of the APE could not be confirmed with probing. The site was evaluated as not eligible for the NRHP under Criteria A and C (Bowen 2020), and is of unknown eligibility under Criterion D. Proposed project activities are limited to the existing SR 139 Right of Way (ROW) which contains no evidence of burials and has been extensively disturbed by road construction activities as well as buried and above-ground utilities. The available evidence indicates that the McDonald Family Cemetery is confined to the adjacent Parcels No. 14F0015 LL0744 and 14F0015 LL0751, even if the precise location within those parcels could not be definitively determined during the current investigation. Therefore, the McDonald Family Cemetery will not be impacted by the proposed signalization activities if they take place only inside the existing ROW as planned. New South recommends complete avoidance of Parcels No. 14F0015 LL0744 and 14F0015 LL0751. These property parcels should be protected with implementation of an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA), with orange barrier fencing along the existing SR 139 ROW. No evidence of 9FU83 was found within the APE, and the portion of 9FU83 previously mapped within the APE is evaluated to lack significant data potential. The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) status of 9FU83 is unknown. Because uninvestigated portions of the site are outside of the APE, including grassy areas around the parking lot and in landscaped islands inside the parking lot, an ESA is recommended to protect portions of the site which could be impacted by construction activities. Westview Cemetery (9FU721) is listed in the Georgia Register of Historic Places and is eligible for listing in the NRHP under Criteria A, B, C, and D (Ciomek 2017a; Clemmons and Catellier 2020). A portion of the APE extends into this site. Because it is eligible, New South recommends avoidance of the cemetery. If complete avoidance is not possible, then it is recommended that all of the potential burials identified during the GPR survey should be avoided. Otherwise, to ensure compliance with OCGA 36-72, additional investigations will be necessary to determine more definitively whether graves are present in the project area. Any proposed project impacts to the Westview Cemetery will be evaluated in a forthcoming Assessment of Effects (AOE) document.