Phase I Cultural Resource Survey of the Proposed St. Marys Historic Waterfront Enhancement Project, St. Marys, Camden County, Georgia

TRC Garrow Associates, Inc. (TRC), conducted a Phase I cultural resource survey for the proposed St. Mary's Waterfront Enhancement Project in March 2000. The purpose of the survey was to determine if archaeological resources or standing structures were present that are potentially eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and that would be affected by project construction as it is currently planned. The archaeological survey identified no significant archaeological resources within the areas of proposed construction. Three artifacts were found in an exposure adjacent to Ready Street, but careful surface inspection and excavation of a single shovel test indicated that the artifacts were not part of a larger archaeological site and had most likely been deposited as trash from the roadway. The three artifacts were not designated as an archaeological site. No other archaeological materials were identified during the survey. The historic structure survey identified one resource in the project's Area of Potential Effects (APE). The St. Mary's Historic District, listed on the NRHP in 1976, encompasses the historic core of the town and contains a number of significant residential, commercial, and institutional buildings dating to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Because the proposed improvements will alter the existing visual setting within the district, and because viewsheds looking out from the district might change, it appears that the project will affect the district. However, due to the minimal nature of the proposed improvements, the character of the district's existing streetscape, and the fact that the improvements will be visible, in many instances, from only the nonhistoric and modern buildings of the district, the effect on the St. Mary's Historic District will not be adverse.