An Intensive Cultural Resource Assessment Survey of the Spring Bluff Tract Camden County, Georgia

In January 2005, Environmental Services, Inc. (ESI) performed an intensive cultural resource assessment survey of the 391-acre Spring Bluff tract in Camden County, Georgia, on behalf of Summer Beach Development Group. The goal of the survey was to locate, identify, delineate, and evaluate all cultural resources within the parcel, including prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, as well as historic structures. The cultural resource assessment survey included a pedestrian inspection combined with systematic shovel testing at 30 and 90-meter intervals. Delineation shovel tests were dug at 10-meter intervals. As a result of the survey, ten archaeological sites (9CM258-9CM267) were recorded and five archaeological occurrences were documented. Recovered artifacts indicated that the property was occupied from the Late Archaic through Mississippian periods and again during the late 18lh through 20lh centuries. No standing historic structures were encountered on the subject property; however, four historic properties were identified adjacent to, or directly across from the property (within 150 feet) and these resources were evaluated due to their location within the Area of Potential Effect (APE). For this project the APE was defined through consultation with Lori Beckwith of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and included a 150-foot radius from the Spring Bluff property. One newly recorded resource within the property is the Berrie Cemetery (9CM267) that dates to the late 18lh through 20lh centuries; it will not be impacted and was not evaluated for its National Register of Historic Places eligibility status. It was determined that sites 9CM258 and 9CM266 are potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and further work or avoidance is recommended. None of the remaining sites, archaeological occurrences, or adjacent historical structures are considered eligible for NRHP inclusion.