Archaeological Survey of W. M. Thompson Tract, Stephens County, Georgia

An archaeological survey was conducted of ca. 42 acres of the W. Mack Thompson tract in northeastern Stephens County, Georgia for Hayes, James, & Associates, of Norcross, GA in December, 2005 by the author. This survey was done in preparation for a proposed wastewater treatment plant which Currahee Partners, LLC, planned to construct on the land when it was acquired by them for the Currahee Club of Toccoa, Ga. The survey area included part of the 60-acre tract which Currahee Partners had under sales contract with Mr. Thompson, and a small portion of the Currahee Club property. The land was steeply sloped, with narrow ridges and few level spots, some of which had heavy recent disturbances from roads and log landings. The survey area was being clear-cut at the time of the archaeological survey, and the loggers had cleared the surfaces of nearly all vegetative cover, except the part which was already Club property. The Currahee Club part had been selectively timbered within the past few years, and was disturbed by a road and log landing. Most surfaces surveyed were cleared by clear-cutting operations and by earlier farming. This archaeological survey was a pedestrian, shovel-test survey, and produced four sites: two trash dumps, a house foundation, and a wooden shed destroyed by the skidders, all from the middle to late Twentieth Century. No indications of prehistoric or earlier historic occupation had survived the heavy surface and sub-surface disturbances, and very little topsoil remained anywhere. None were considered to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.