Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Jim Moore-Sharon Church 230 kV Transmission Line and Flanagan Mill Road 230/25 kV Substation, Gwinnett and Barrow Counties, Georgia

In the latter half of 2007, Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) conducted a Phase I archeological survey of approximately 16.6 km (10.3 mi) of proposed 230 kV transmission line corridor and a proposed 8.5-ha (21-ac) substation site in eastern Gwinnett and western Barrow Counties. The proposed transmission line runs from the Jim Moore Road Substation in eastern Gwinnett County to the Sharon Church Substation in western Barrow County. The proposed Flanagan Mill Road substation will be on Dee Kennedy Road in Barrow County. The Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC) wishes to construct this new line within a 30 m (100 ft) wide corridor that mostly follows existing roads, but also traverses some woodlands. Because much of the proposed line follows and crisscrosses roads, the project corridor was often much less than 30 m wide. Surface exposure was generally poor and patchy in the project corridor. Consequently survey relied on systematic shovel testing, usually in one transect along the proposed centerline narrow project corridor. Once a site was detected, it was investigated with more shovel tests along the corridor length at 10- or 20-m intervals (depending on the anticipated size of the site) and with one or several perpendicular transects of shovel tests to explore site width. Based on surface inspection and the excavation of shovel tests, we discovered and recorded eight archeological sites. We recommend that only one of the sites is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. The other sites are not eligible because of loss of integrity, no association with important persons or events and lack of research potential. The boundaries of the potentially eligible site have been established. Georgia Transmission Corporation intends to avoid most of the site with the transmission line, but will need to place a single pole at the northwestern edge of the site. Since the site is in pasture and is next to a paved road, there should be no other project effects to the site other than the placement of this pole and its associated grounding system. We recommend that this specific portion of the site be archeologically tested by hand excavating a 3-x-4-m test unit at the precise location of the pole and grounding system.