Archeological Survey of Proposed Improvements to a Portion of State Route 53, Hall County, Georgia

In late July, 2001 Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., conducted a Phase I archeological survey of proposed widening of a 4.8 km (3.0 mi) length of State Route 53 in western Hall County. The project also includes the widening and straightening of a 0.9 km (0.6 mi) length of intersecting Sardis Road. The current mostly two-lane road will be widened to four lanes with a grassy median. To allow for contingencies, the area of potential effect was delineated broadly to include a corridor 145 m (475 ft) wide, centered on one side of the existing highway. The Sardis Road corridor was 61 m (700 ft) wide. In addition, two tracts of land at the intersection of Sardis Road and SR 53 were part of the survey area to allow reconstruction of the intersection. The goal of the survey was to locate and evaluate archeological sites within the area of potential effect for the proposed project, so that potential effects to those resources could be evaluated in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Archival research indicated that no sites had been recorded in the project area. The section of SR 53 east of Sardis Road was constructed on new location after 1951 and is thus less than 50 years old. West of Sardis Road, the present road roughly follows a pre-existing road, but many curves in the older road were straightened in the early 1950s. Thus, few historic sites were expected. Our field survey located and recorded three archeological sites, two sparse prehistoric lithic scatters and one late nineteenth to early twentieth century house site. We recommend that none of these sites is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places because of loss of integrity and lack of research potential.