Cultural Resource Surveys (9FY92) of Timber Harvest Areas at the Marine Corps Air Station and Laurel Bay Housing Area Beaufort, South Carolina and A Proposed Access Road Alignment and Drop Zone Area Townsend Bombing Range McIntosh County, Georgia

This report details the results of intensive cultural resource surveys of selected locations within the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station and Laurel Bay Family Housing Area north of Beaufort, South Carolina and Townsend Bombing Range near Townsend, Mcintosh County, Georgia (Figures 1 and 2). The field surveys were conducted by New South Associates, Inc. to comply with the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, Executive Order 11593 (Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment), and the Archeological and Historic Preservation Act of 197 4. The project was administered by Gulf Engineers and Consultants, Inc. of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and funded through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District. Survey locations on the Air Station and at Laurel Bay primarily consisted of timber harvest stands that together encompassed an area of approximately 1,078 acres. Smaller support and storage facility areas within the Air Station proper were also included as part of this package. Survey locations at Townsend Bombing Range consisted of a proposed 500 acre, rectangular shaped Drop Zone and a portion of a proposed perimeter road extending over a linear distance of approximately 5.6 miles. Because nearly all of the survey locations at both installations were forested, the standard field coverage methodology consisted of 30 meter interval shovel tests on linear transects. At some locations at Townsend Bombing Range this strategy was modified to include only pedestrian survey on very poorly drained landforms and 60 meter interval shovel testing in poorly drained settings. In addition, the technique of close interval shovel testing at 10 meter intervals on cruciform grids was deployed around positive shovel tests to define archeological site boundaries. No cultural resources greater than 50 years in age were identified at Townsend Bombing Range. Survey at the Air Station and in stands adjacent to the Laurel Bay Housing Area, however, resulted in the identification of 48 archeological sites. Sixteen isolated finds were also recorded here. Twenty-four of the sites (38BU1324, 1325, 1326, 1327, 1328, 1329, 1330, 1331, 1332,1333,1334,1335,1339, 1340,1342,1343,1344,1345,1347,1352,1357,1360,1362, and 1367) identified on the Air Station and at Laurel Bay are recommended as potentially eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. These sites should be protected during the timber harvesting and construction projects to be implemented on the base in the near future. In situations where this is not possible it is further recommended that sites scheduled for impact be tested to further evaluate their significance and eligibility prior to timber harvesting. In the event that eligible sites must be ultimately impacted it would be necessary to conduct data recovery investigations to mitigate adverse effect.