In September 2022, Trileaf Corporation (Trileaf) performed a cultural resource inventory survey for a proposed self-support communications tower located in Whitfield County, Dalton, Georgia Latitude: 34° 39’ 29.81” N, Longitude: 84° 58’ 51.65” W. The project location is located within a disturbed field.
Crown Castle proposes to construct a Self-Support Communications Tower, with an overall height of 300-feet, and install associated equipment within a 50-foot by 60-foot lease area. A 13,362 square-foot access/utility easement will extend east from the eastern side of the lease area before terminating at South Dixie Highway (U.S. Highway 41). An additional temporary 14,630 square-foot access/utility easement will extend northeast, then east from the proposed access utility easement along an existing road. Total acreage of the new construction area is approximately 0.37 acres (0.15 Hectare).
Senior Project Archaeologist Colin Bean, M.A., 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 precontact 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, yielded no evidence for the presence of archaeological or architectural properties within the Direct APE for the current project. The Trail of Tears is located along South Dixie Highway, immediately adjacent to the APE-DE and within the ¾-mile APE-VE. The Trail of Tears is an NPS-recognized National Historic Trail (NHT) and is considered a Historic Property. Additionally, there were seven (7) state resources with no previous determination of eligibility.
Based on these findings, Trileaf recommends No Adverse Effect to Historic Properties in both the APEDE and APE-VE. 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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