Archaeological Survey of Proposed Improvements at the Fortson 4-H Center, Henry and Clayton Counties, Georgia

The University of Georgia 's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences became a partner in converting a ca. 77-acre private camp south of Atlanta into a State-supported 4-H center in 2003. In 2015 the University System of Georgia assumed ownership of the Fortson 4-H Center and through the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences began a program of improvements to the buildings and infrastructure of the 4-H facility. In the spring of2018 the Center developed plans to enlarge and improve the septic sewage system at the Center. To insure that these ground disturbing improvements would not adversely affect significant archaeological resources on University property, the University of Georgia, through its Office of University Architects for Facilities Planning, contracted with Southeastern Archeological Services to conduct archival research and Phase I archeological field survey of the area of potential effect for the project. The goal of the project was to locate, delineate and evaluate the significance of any archaeological sites in the area of potential effect. The initial round of field survey was conducted on May l 0, 2018, and a follow-up round of field survey was conducted on June l, 2018. The Fortson 4-H Center is located about 4 miles west of Hampton and about l mile west of the Atlanta Motor Speedway, straddling the Henry-Clayton County line (Figure 1). It is situated on a ridge of land between two unnamed branches that flow south into Bear Creek, which flows southwest into the upper reaches of the Flint River. About 45 acres of the Center is undeveloped land on the east side of Fortson Road, in Henry County. The heart of the Center, including virtually all of its facilities, lies on the west side of Fortson Road, in Clayton County (Figure 2). The area of potential effect was initially comprised of four irregularly shaped areas, but the two western polygons were connected and expanded when artifacts were discovered at the edge of one polygon. As shown in Figure 2 the final area of potential effect for the project is comprised of an approximately 1.6-acre area along the wooded western edge of the property (Figure 3), an approximately 0.4-acre area in a grassy ball field in the northeast portion of the Center's campus (Figure 4), and a 230-foot-long pipeline corridor in the southern portion of the campus.