Civil War Entrenchments on GDOT Project F-056-1 (42), Fulton County

In the Marietta Daily Journal of May 31, 1986, an article appeared telling of the presence of Civil War trenches within the proposed right-of-way of Georgia 400. Deputy Sheriff Ted Davis of the Fulton County Police Department was interviewed and related the historical documentation of the earthworks, as well as telling of his visit to the site. In order to determine the precise location of these trenches in relation to the proposed project and to access their significance, I called Mr. Davis on June 18, 1986. In addition to retracing some of the information in the newspaper article, he said that he had visited the site and done some metal detecting. He said that there was some evidence that other collectors had worked the area and that he had found nothing. He stated that it was his opinion that the trenches were of little significance and that there were many more like them all around the Atlanta area. Based on this information and a description of the location of these works, I visited the site on June 19, 1986. The area in question is within the proposed GDOT corridor and is generally north of Wieuca Road and west of Peachtree-Dunwoody Road. More specifically the site is just south of Mountain Drive and west of North Ivy Road (map attached). The entrenchments consist of 10 to 12 slits about 10 feet long by 3 feet wide, cut into the 40° slope hillside overlooking a tributary to Nancy Creek and about 100 to 200 feet down from the hillcrest (drawing attached). There are numerous relic collector holes dug in and around the trenches and some of the trenches appear to have been recently and completely dug out with the spoil dirt deposited on the downhill side of the trench. Others are filled with natural debris. Based on historic accounts of these entrenchments, which state that they were occupied for only one night, the obvious looting and defacing of the works by relic seekers, and the negative information supplied by Davis, these features appear to be of little archaeological significance. Because the area has been previously documented in the historic records and pot hunters have disturbed, destroyed or removed any intact artifactual or feature remains, these entrenchments are not felt to meet the minimal requirements for National Register of Historic Places eligibility.