An Archeological Survey of Twenty-five Intersection Imporvements in Chatham County, Georgia

On December 10, 2002, an archeological survey of 25 intersection improvement projects in Savannah, Georgia, was conducted by Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. The intersections are primarily located along Anderson and Henry Streets in the west-central portion of the city (Figure 1). The survey area consists largely of an African-American neighborhood, with most of the houses and other structures dating to the early 1900s. Churches, small businesses and parking lots tend to be located on the street corners. Both Anderson and Henry Streets terminate at Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard on the west. Waters Street forms the eastern boundary of the survey area. The improvements are relatively minor, consisting of the replacement of existing traffic lights and signal poles with new ones, installing new controller cabinets, adding pedestrian ramps, and installing fiber optic control cables. Based on the descriptions of the projects, it appears that the only ground disturbing activity will consist replacing existing signal poles with new ones. As described in the design concepts, the new poles will be placed between 5 and 15 feet from the existing poles. The fiber optic control cable will be routed on existing utility poles along an alley between Anderson and Henry Streets. The survey included consultation with the Georgia Archaeological Site Files and a field inspection of each intersection. No archeological sites have previously been recorded along Anderson or Henry Streets. In Savannah, photographs of each intersection were taken using a 35 mm camera and color print film. Representative photographs are presented in this report, following the intersection descriptions. A note to reviewers: 25 intersections are to be improved, but the intersections are not sequentially numbered. This accounts for the lack of an intersection number 20, and the gap between intersections numbered 25 and 30 on the map.