Cultural Resources Desktop Review of240 Miles of Telephone Fiber Bibb, Crawford, Monroe, Talbot, and Upson Counties, Georgia

Dear Mr. Bass:

New South Associates, Inc. (NSA) performed a cultural resources desktop review for a 240-mile long proposed telephone fiber installation on behalf of the Public Service Telephone Company in April and May 2021. In October 2021, an additional assessment was made as a result of new information being provided. Emma Mason performed the review and Brian Snyder served as the Principal Investigator.

In March 2021, the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) recommended a Phase I Cultural Resources Survey of the 240-mile proposed telephone fiber route. Following discussions between SHPO and NSA, both parties agreed to first conduct a preliminary review of recorded archaeological sites and historic resources, and to identify areas with a potential for cultural resources in the proposed project area. Proposed project activities included plowing and limited horizontal directional drilling (HDD) entirely inside existing rights-of-way (ROWs) or easements. At this time, only a preliminary route had been provided. Detailed plans, including the locations of possible staging areas, ROWs, and other areas of ground disturbance outside of the proposed cable installation had not been provided. In October 2021, NSA was provided with the locations of existing cable and fiber optic lines. The following information has been updated with new recommendations considering the new information.

NSA understands that there will be no new ROW acquisition and no new easements. All construction will be confined to locations of existing ROW, buried utility lines, and easements. Final plans have not been submitted, but NSA was provided with an approximate project area to base the recommendations on. NSA conducted an analysis of areas where the potential for new ground disturbance may occur and found that all areas of proposed fiber installation fall within areas of previous ROW construction and previously installed utility lines.

NSA previously reviewed Georgia's Natural, Archaeological, and Historical GIS (GNAHRGIS) database for information about previously recorded cultural resources within 500 feet of the cable route (Georgia's Natural, Archaeological, and Historic Resources GIS (GNAHRGIS) 2021). GNAHRGIS indicates that there are 62 previously recorded archaeological sites, 30 previously recorded historic architectural resources, and 56 cemeteries located along the proposed telephone fiber cable route.

Of the 56 known cemeteries within the search radius, seven are also recorded as archaeological sites and 15 are recorded as historic resources. The locations of all historic resources, archaeological sites, and cemeteries were provided in New South's June 2021 letter (Mason 2021). Details of the historic resources and archaeological sites are summarized in Tables 1-3.