Phase I Archaeological Survey of Proposed Improvements at SR 53/Hog Mountain Road and CR 99/Rays Church Road and CR 516/Malcolm Bridge Road, Oconee County, Georgia

Edwards-Pitman, Inc. (EP) conducted a Phase I archaeological survey for the proposed Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) project to construct a roundabout at the intersection of State Route (SR) 53/Hog Mountain Road at County Road (CR) 99/Rays Church Road and CR 516/Malcolm Bridge Road in Oconee County, Georgia (GDOT PI No. 0017186, HP No. 210310-011). The survey was completed in early January 2021 and was carried out for GDOT under a contract with Thomas & Hutton Engineering. The goal of survey was to locate and evaluate archaeological resources within the survey area in accordance with the Georgia Environmental Policy Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Design plans were incomplete at the time of the survey, thus the survey area for the proposed project includes all areas within the Environmental Survey Boundary (ESB) provided to EP by the project design engineers. The ESB measures approximately 634 meters (m) (2,080 feet [ft]) in length along SR 53/Hog Mountain Road and 91.4 m (300 ft) in width. From the edge of this buffer around SR 53/Hog Mountain Road, the ESB extends a farther 213.3 m (680 ft) north along CR 516/Malcolm Bridge Road, and 274.3 m (900 ft) south along CR 99/Rays Church Road, with the ESB width along both these segments also being 91.4 m (300 ft). The ESB measures approximately 10.34 hectares (ha) (25.56 acres [ac]) in area. The ESB was specifically designed to encompass all areas of possible/foreseeable ground disturbance as a result of the current project. When design is complete, the project’s area of potential effect (APE) will likely be smaller than the ESB. A review of records in the Georgia Archaeological Site File (GASF) prior to the Phase I archaeological survey indicated that no previously identified archaeological sites have been recorded within a 1 kilometer (km) (0.62 mile [mi]) radius of the ESB. EP’s Phase I survey was conducted in accordance with GDOT’s Environmental Procedures Manual and the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists’ (GCPA) guidelines for archaeological investigation (GDOT 2013; GCPA 2019) and included pedestrian survey and systematic shovel testing at 30 m (98.5 ft) intervals. EP’s survey identified three previously unknown historic archaeological sites, 9OC440, 9OC441, and 9OC442. Sites 9OC440 and 9OC441 lie at least partially within the ESB, while 9OC442 is a cemetery documented in the viewshed, outside the ESB. Site 9OC440 is the location of a razed late nineteenth/early twentieth century farmhouse historically belonging to the Dooley family. Site 9OC441 is a remnant chimney possibly related to a former schoolhouse on what was historically Dooley family property. For both these sites, based on survey results demonstrating a lack of integrity and/or significant deposits or features, the investigated portion of these sites are regarded as lacking in significant data potential; however, their overall eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under Criterion D remains unknown due to incomplete site delineation ii Phase I Archaeological Survey of Proposed Improvements at SR 53/Hog Mountain Road at CR 99/Rays Church Road and CR 516/Malcolm Bridge Road, Oconee County, Georgia as a result of ESB limits. Site 9OC442 is a historic nineteenth century family cemetery known as East Cemetery, which was documented during Phase I survey with a site form. In a concurrent historic resources survey for the project, performed by EP historians, the cemetery (identified by historians as Resource 2b) was evaluated under NRHP Criterion C, resulting in a recommendation of not eligible (EP 2021). Because 9OC442 lies outside the ESB, it was not surveyed during the Phase I archaeological survey, and its eligibility for the NRHP under Criterion D is unknown.

It is recommended that 9OC442 and the uninvestigated portions of 9OC440 and 9OC441 beyond the ESB be established as Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) to be protected from inadvertent project impacts by orange barrier fencing (OBF). No further archaeological investigation is recommended within the ESB; however, additional survey may be necessary if the project area changes.