PHASE I ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF BIG CREEK GREENWAY CONNECTOR, FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA

Edwards-Pitman, Inc. (EP) completed a Phase I archaeological survey of the Big Creek Greenway Connector from Bethany Bend Road to Big Creek Greenway in the City of Milton, Fulton County, Georgia. This survey was conducted for the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) under a contract with Pond & Company (Pond). The proposed GDOT project (P.I. No. 0015078) would provide pedestrian trail improvements in Milton, Georgia located in Fulton County. The trail would connect the Cambridge High School area via Cogburn Road, Webb Road, and Morris Road to the intersection of Morris Road with McGinnis Ferry Road. The McGinnis Ferry Road Interchange with State Route (SR) 400 project (P.I. No. 0007526), which is currently under design, includes a trail connection to the Big Creek Greenway at Union Hill Park. This revised project meets the City of Milton’s goal to connect to the Big Creek Greenway. The existing right-of-way (ROW) along both Cogburn and Morris roads measures 18.3 meters (m) (60 feet [ft]) in width while along Webb Road it varies from 18.3 to 289.6 m (60 to 95 ft). Existing ROW throughout the survey area totals approximately 6.3 hectares (ha) (15.61 acres [ac]). Although project plans have not been developed, it is anticipated that the proposed ROW would total approximately 0.9 ha (2.25 ac); proposed areas of easement would cover approximately 2.1 ha (5.09 ac), but it is not known at this time if the easement will be temporary or permanent. The length of the proposed project would be approximately 2,712.7 m (8,900 ft) or 2.7 kilometers (km) (1.7 miles [mi]).

The survey area for the proposed project included all areas within an Environmental Survey Boundary (ESB) provided to EP by Pond. The ESB is comprised of four discontinuous locations that total 3,040 m (9,973.8 ft) in length, or 3.04 km (4.89 mi), and vary in width from 50 to 90 m (164.0 to 295.3 ft). In total, the ESB covers 16.3 ha (40.3 ac). The ESB, which is also referred to hereafter as the survey area, was designed specifically to encompass existing and proposed ROW for the proposed trail, temporary, and permanent easements, and all areas of possible/ foreseeable ground disturbance as a result of the current project. When the design is complete, the project’s Area of Potential Effect (APE) will likely be smaller than the ESB.

EP’s survey resulted in revisits to three previously identified archaeological resources: 9FU294, 9FU295, and 9FU296. In addition, one Isolated Find (IF) was identified during the survey effort. Sites 9FU294, 2FU295, and 9FU296 were all originally recorded as nineteenth to twentieth century domestic sites, and all three have been previously recommended as ineligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). No cultural material was recovered during EP’s revisit to any of the previously recorded sites and, as such, EP concurs with the prior recommendations that 9FU294, 9FU295, and 9FU296 are ineligible for the NRHP under Criterion D. IF 1 consists of a chimney that has been moved to its current location in order to serve a decorative function. As the chimney is considered to have been redeposited, based upon the definitions and guidelines established by the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists (GCPA; 2019), it is considered an isolated find. Based upon the GCPA guidelines (GCPA 2019), isolated finds are, by definition, not eligible for the NRHP under Criterion D.