Phase I Cultural Resources Survey Proposed Sandersville Railroad Industrial Parks Project Harrison Tract Washington County, Georgia

R.S. Webb & Associates (RSWA) conducted a Phase I cultural resources survey of a 181-hectares (448- acres) portion of the Sandersville Railroad Industrial Parks Project known as the Harrison tract. The project area is approximately 4.0 kilometers (km) northeast of Sandersville in Washington County, Georgia. The study site is located in the uplands overlooking headwater tributaries of Kittrell Creek and the North Fork of Sun Hill Creek, northeast of Sisters Church Road (aka Ridge Road) and north of the Fall Line Freeway.

RSWA performed the Phase I cultural resources survey for MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. on behalf of Sandersville Railroad Company. This industrial parks undertaking is being managed under a Programmatic Agreement between Sandersville Railroad Company, the U.S. Army Corps of the Engineers (USACE), and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office. The Programmatic Agreement was necessary due to federal wetland permitting under the Clean Water Act, through the USACE. Under the Clean Water Act, the USACE must comply with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended.

RSWA performed the literature review and field survey in January and February 2011 to determine the presence/absence of cultural resources within the project Area of Potential Effects (APE) and to assess the significance of each resource based on National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility criteria (36 CFR Part 60.4).

At the Georgia Archeological Site File (GASF), University of Georgia in Athens (UGA), the official files and maps were examined, followed by a review of the pertinent site forms and the Laboratory of Archaeology manuscript/report files. At the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division (HPD) in Atlanta, pertinent compliance document files, official maps, and National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)/pending files were reviewed, as well as the Washington County historic structures survey files. Georgia's Natural, Archaeological, and Historic Resources Geographical Information System (NAHRGIS) was also used to determine the location of state-recognized historic resources in Washington County. Historic maps, aerial photographs, and relevant land lot plats were examined at the State Archives in Morrow and the Science Library at UGA. The Official Military Atlas of the Civil War (Davis eta/. 1983) was also consulted.

Project archeologists surveyed the study site along transects spaced no more than 30 meter (m) apart, using surface and subsurface techniques to search for cultural resources. Exposed surfaces within the project area were inspected for artifacts and surface features. Subsurface techniques included the excavation of30-by-30-centimeter (cm) screened shovel tests to sterile subsoil. The shovel test profiles were inspected and soil data recorded. Except in areas of severe disturbance, shovel tests were excavated at intervals no greater than 30 m apart.

Given the nature of the undertaking and the mostly wooded, undeveloped nature of the area surrounding the project area, the project APE was set at 100 m beyond the project area boundaries. The APE was photographed and scanned for possible historic structures.

The most relevant previously conducted cultural resources work in the study area is the archeological survey of the rail corridor and expansion area for the Sandersville Industrial Parks undertaking (Brown 20 I 0). A historic architecture survey of Washington County was performed by Holtermann in 1979.

The files at HPD revealed no NRHP eligible or listed resources located within a 1.0 km radius of the project area. The HPD files and the NAHRGIS database show no recorded historic structures within a 900 m radius of the project area. The closest recorded historic structure is Structure 1 03, which is on the south side of Georgia Highway 24, well south of the project area.

A review of official maps/site forms at GASF and the Brown (20 I 0) report revealed that three previously recorded archeological sites are located within the project area (9WG199, 9WG201, and 9WG235). Site 9WG 199 is a recorded as a 20'11 century house site, 9WG201 is the 19th to early 201h century Jordan Cemetery, and 9WG235 is a middle 20th century cinder-block foundation. All three of these sites are recommended ineligible for the NRHP. Seven additional archeological sites are located within 500 m of the project area. One of these, Site 9WG220, is shown in the Brown (20 l 0) report as being within the project area east of 9GW235; however, site file information (UTMs) places it near 9WG233, outside the project area.

Washington County was a headright county; therefore there is no land lottery plat data. Review of the Official Military Atlas of the Civil War (Davis eta/. 1983) and accompanying records revealed that Civil War activity occurred in Sandersville, but no specific actions were cited within or adjacent to the project area.

A 1915 Washington County soil map shows 11 structures within and nine structures within 500 m of the project area. County highway maps ( 1940, 1952) indicate five structure within and eight adjacent to the project area. The USGS Sandersville (1962) and Warthen (l961) quads show four structures within the project area and four structures/structure complexes within 500 m of the project area. The Warthen quad also shows a cemetery near or abutting the northern project boundary on the east side of Sisters Church Road.

An aerial photograph from 1949 was reviewed for evidence of structures within or adjacent to the project area. The aerial shows six signatures within the project area that could be structures or structure complexes. The 1949 aerial also shows a vegetation signature that correlates well with the location of the previously recorded cemetery, 9WG201.

During the current field survey, 1,418 screened shovel tests were excavated along 162 transects. The field survey resulted in the recordation/revisit of one prehistoric site, five historic sites, one modern/historic site, one historic cemetery, one prehistoric isolated find and six historic isolates.

There are two locations where, in the past, historic structure complexes were located in the APE. Structure Complex No. 1 is in an out-parcel along the Fall Line Freeway on the southern edge of the project area. Structure Complex No.2 is immediately south of the Fall Line Freeway, southeast of Structure Complex No. l.

Applying NRHP eligibility criteria in 36 CFR Part 60.4, archeological sites 9WG 199 and 9WG259 through 9WG263 are recommended ineligible for the NRHP. The justification for these recommendations is that the archeological deposits at these locations have been severely disturbed by historic clearing, cultivation, 20th century silviculture, and/or middle to late 201h century clearing activities, and are not likely to yield additional important information. Isolated Finds IF-I through 7 are also considered ineligible for the NRHP because these items are isolated artifacts that are no longer in their original contexts, and/or retain no significant archeological information.

Site 9WG201, Jordan Cemetery is recommended ineligible for the NRHP. It is a small family cemetery that does not appear to meet any of the standard NRHP eligibility criteria. It is important to stress that the cemetery is protected by Georgia's abandoned cemetery law (Title 36, Chapter 72) and it is recommended that the cemetery be managed in a manner consistent with state law.

It appears likely that resource 9WG235 is less than SO years old. The site is therefore too recent to be considered an archeological resource or to be evaluated under NRHP eligibility Criterion (d).

Structure Complex Nos.l and 2 are recommended ineligible for the NRHP. In both cases, the historic main houses have been replaced and the outbuildings are modem, have collapsed, or are limited to one or two individual structures that do not convey the once-historic nature of either complex. In addition, modem intrusions (i.e., Fall Line Freeway and a power transmission line) have significantly affected the viewshed of these properties.

Based on the Phase I cultural resources survey findings, the proposed industrial development of the Harrison tract will have no adverse effect on cultural resources eligible for or listed on the NRHP. From a cultural resources management standpoint, no additional work is recommended for the Harrison tract.