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Phase I Archaeological Survey of Improvements to SR 5/Bill Arp Road, CR 198/Banks Mill Road, CR 174/Dorsett Shoals Road, Pool Road, and Big A Road, Douglas County, Georgia

Author(s)
Report Number
9657
Year of Publication
2017
County
Abstract

Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. (EPEI) conducted a Phase I archaeological survey for improvements to State Route (SR) 5/Bill Arp Road, County Road (CR) 198/Banks Mill Road, CR 174/Dorsett Shoals Road, Pool Road, and Big A Road in Douglas County, Georgia (Georgia Department of Transportation [GDOT] P.I. No. 0009836, HP No. 120918-005) in October 2016. The project is located approximately 6 miles southwest of Douglasville, Georgia. This project intends to construct a roundabout on SR 5/Bill Arp Road to improve its intersection with four other roads, CR 198/Banks Mill Road, CR174/Dorsett Shoals Road, and Pool Road, as well as improving the intersection of SR 5/Bill Arp Road and Big A Road. Since this project is in the early conceptual study phase, proposed right-of-way (ROW) widths are not yet known. Because these parameters have not been determined, an Environmental Survey Boundary (ESB) was provided by designers that would represent the maximum extent of construction for all possible alternatives. The ESB will be referred to as the survey area within this report. As a result of this survey, one new cultural resource, 9D0212, Pray's Mill Baptist Church Cemetery, was recorded. Site 9D0212 is a cemetery that was established in the mid-nineteenth century and which continued to be used as recently as the early twenty-first century (1844- 20 12) (Kennedy Engineering 2013). A Historic Resource Survey Report (HRSR) produced by Kennedy Engineering and Associates Group LLC documented both the church and its associated cemetery, and recommended the cemetery as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under Criterion B, Criterion C, and Criterion D. However, no subsurface investigations have been undertaken in the cemetery area, and the interments have not been evaluated for their archaeological data potential. The fencing around the cemetery is an established boundary for the cemetery (Kennedy Engineering 2013), and the archaeological investigations have confirmed this boundary for the cemetery.