In March 2021, Trileaf Corporation (Trileaf) performed a cultural resource inventory survey for a proposed guyed telecommunication tower facility located in Telfair County, McRae-Helena, Georgia (Latitude: 32° 00’ 13.03” Longitude: -82° 45’ 6.38”). The project location is located within a grassed and treed area associated with logging activities.
Tillman Infrastructure, LLC proposes the construction of a new guyed telecommunications tower facility with a total height of 350 feet (106.7 meters). The new tower and associated equipment will be situated within a proposed approximate 100 x 100-foot (30.5 x 30.5 meter) cell tower lease area. A proposed approximate 30 x 217-foot (9.1 x 66.1 meter) access and utility easement will travel generally southwest away from the lease area towards Towns Livingston Road. Additionally, three (3) 30-foot-wide guy easements are proposed to extend approximately 297-feet (9.1 x 90.5 meter) northwest, northeast, and south-southwest away from the compound lease area. Total acreage of the new construction area is approximately 0.99 acres (0.40 Hectares).
Assistant Archaeology Project Manager/Senior Archaeologist Zach Horne, M.A., RPA, 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, found no evidence for the presence of archaeological or architectural properties in relation to the current project area’s Direct APE. Additionally, no National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-listed, or NRHP-eligible properties were identified within the project area’s Direct APE or the ¾-mile Visual APE. However, in a letter dated March 16, 2021 by Regional Planner Mandy Britt of the Heart of Georgia Altamaha Regional Commission stated that upon review of the 1976 Telfair County Historic Resources Survey, that Survey No. 24, located within the described vicinity of the proposed telecommunication project’s ¾-mile visual APE, identified (1) (Style: Plantation Plain c 1875) historical resource with no prior determination of eligibility, but included for inclusivity, located approximately at the north side of the railroad, Towns, Georgia. A review of archaeological sites and surveys, conducted through Georgia Archaeological Site Files (GASF 2021) by Zach Horne, M.A., RPA on March 16, 2021, identified one (1) previously recorded archeological site (9WL59), and one (1) archaeological survey (13081) that were identified within 1-mile of the proposed project area.
Additionally, the National Park Service National Historic Trails Interactive GIS map was also reviewed. The Trail of Tears is recognized by the National Park Service as a National Historic Trail, which carries the same significance as being listed in the NRHP and is therefore considered a Historic Property. No known portion of the Trail of Tears intersects with the project or is located within a ½-mile of the project location.
Based on these findings, Trileaf recommends No Historic Properties within the Direct APE and No Historic Properties within the ¾-mile Visual APE. It is therefore recommended that project clearance be granted with no further investigation or evaluation of the project area relative to those resources.
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