Cultural Resources Survey of a 0.5-acre Georgia Power Company Shoreline Study Area at the Landing Marina, Reynolds Lake Oconee

On April 27, 2016, Brockington and Associates, Inc. (Brockington) conducted a cultural resources survey of a 0.5-acre shoreline at the Landing Marina in Greene County, Georgia (Figures 1 and 2). The Landing Marina is located in the Reynolds Lake Oconee real estate development, at the terminus of an unnamed driveway along Anchor Bay Drive. The 0.5-acre survey area consists of a narrow, sloping strip along the Lake Oconee shoreline, including a wooden dock and concrete boat ramp. Oconee Marina Company, LLC (afterwards referred to as the “Applicant”) intends to refurbish and upgrade the marina and boat storage facilities. This study area is owned by the Georgia Power Company (GPC) and the Applicant must submit a multi-use permit to GPC for approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

                No previously listed National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) properties or historic resources are located within or near the study area. Likewise, no previously identified sites are located within the 0.5- acre study area. The 1953 Athens, GA 15 minute USGS quadrangle map indicates relatively little settlement in the area during the mid-twentieth century (Figure 3). However, background research showed 11 previously recorded archaeological sites within a 0.5-mile radius of the study area (Table 1; Figure 4). These sites were recorded as prehistoric or undefined artifact scatters or isolated finds. They all were recorded in the 1970s during Wallace Reservoir surveys by the University of Georgia prior to the completion of Wallace Dam in 1979. All are now inundated below pool level or extensively graded, and likely no longer exist.