On September 2, 2021, Brockington and Associates, Inc. (Brockington) completed a Phase I cultural resources survey for the relocation of Structure 48 on the Dirt Road-Riggins Mill Road 115 kV transmission line (Macon TMC) (Bond Swamp Project) located in Reids, Twiggs County, Georgia (Figure 1). The 2.75 miles of corridor is in the Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, directly west of Highway 16. The tract is bound to the southwest by a residential neighborhood.
Our cultural resources survey was carried out for Georgia Power Company (GPC) as they plan to relocate Structure 48 on the Dirt Road-Riggins Mill Road 115 kV transmission line. Our survey included a literature review to document all known resources as well as archaeological and architectural field investigations to identify any new resources. Our archaeological survey area is defined as the 2.75-miles of transmission line corridor. Our architectural survey area includes the project tract as well as an additional radius of 0.25 mile (0.4 kilometer [km]) to account for possible visual effects. Our primary goal was to determine if the proposed project will impact cultural resources that are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). This letter report includes a description of our methods, the results of our background research and field investigations, and our recommendations for the proposed project.
Though this is a due diligence project, all activities described herein have been carried out in accordance with the stipulations of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) (per 36 CFR Part 800, as amended through 2016) and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) revised 36 CFR Part 800 Regulations. We also followed current guidelines established by the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists (GCPA 2019) and Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR) Historic Preservation Division (HPD) (2017) as well as other pertinent state and federal guidelines. We evaluated all cultural resources identified during this investigation for eligibility for inclusion in the NRHP based on criteria set forth by 36 CFR Part 60.4. Supervising personnel for this survey meet or exceed the Secretary of Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards in accordance with 36 CFR Part 61.
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