The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Mobile District is proposing to install an updated comfort station at Faceville Landing Boat Ramp on fee owned land at Lake Seminole in Decatur County, Georgia (Figure 1). The new rain-flush comfort station is a climate change resilient, sustainable structure that will meet the current demands of increased public use and constant changing weather patterns at the boat ramp. The new comfort station measures approximately 12 x 12 feet with an Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) compliant walkway from the existing picnic shelter walkway to the comfort station (Figure 2).
According to Georgia's Natural, Archaeological and Historic Resources Geographic Information System (GNAHRGIS), eight archaeological sites are recorded within a onehalf (.5) mile radius of the Area of Potential Effect (APE); six sites are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) (9DR123, 9DR128, 9DR131, 9DR135, 9DR174 and 9DR185), one is of unknown eligibility (9DR11), and one is not eligible (9DR130). No historic structures are recorded within a one-half mile radius. Three recorded site boundaries are over 150 meters from the project APE (Figure 1). None of the recorded sites are located within the proposed comfort station's APE.
One previous cultural resources survey was conducted within the APE in 1981, titled Archaeological Survey at Lake Seminole, Jackson and Gadsden Counties, Florida, Seminole and Decatur Counties, Georgia (White, N.M., Cleveland Museum of Natural History Archaeological Research Report Number 29). Because the 1981 report does not meet current Georgia Department of Natural Resources - Historic Preservation Division (GDNR-HPD) guidelines for Phase I archaeological survey according to the Mobile District's Lake Seminole Integrated Cultural Resources Management Plan 2020- 2025 (ICRMP), the district archaeologist conducted a cultural resources reconnaissance survey of the comfort station APE on May 23, 2022.
Three shovel tests spaced approximately 5 meters apart were placed within the APE (Figure 3) and all soils were indicative of disturbance (compacted, clayey, mottled) and fill from the construction of the current paved parking lot and picnic shelter (Figure 4).
One shovel test (#4) was placed outside of the APE and revealed natural, intact soils (light gray and tan fine sand) (Figure 5). No prehistoric or historic artifacts or cultural deposits were discovered in the shovel tests or from surface· reconnaissance.
As a precaution, construction equipment and material staging for the new comfort station will use the current paved parking lot. The Lake Seminole USAGE Rangers, who have been trained to recognize artifacts and cultural deposits, will monitor the construction for inadvertent discoveries. If anything of a cultural nature is discovered during construction, the Rangers will immediately contact Mobile District archaeologists. USAGE, Mobile District has determined no historic properties affected. ·
We request your concurrence on this determination of effects for this project. Please send any comments and questions regarding this project to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, CESAM-PD-EI, Attention: Ms. Wendy Weaver, Archaeologist, Post Office Box 2288, Mobile, Alabama 36628. Ms. Weaver can also be reached via email at wendy.c.weaver@usace.army.mil for questions concerning this project.
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