Between November 16 and 20, 2020, Brockington and Associates, Inc. (Brockington), conducted a Phase I cultural resources survey of the proposed Merritt Land Holdings Development Tract in Chatham County, Georgia. The proposed project consists of industrial development that will include the construction of several new buildings, roads, and utilities. The investigation consisted of an archaeological survey of the 138-acre project tract and an architectural survey of the project tract and its immediate surrounding viewshed. The goal our investigation was to identify all cultural resources located within the area of potential effect (APE) boundaries and provide a definitive National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) evaluation for each resource. This investigation was carried out for Kimley-Horn of Savannah, Georgia, in partial fulfilment of guidelines established for Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
Background research conducted on Georgia’s Natural, Archaeological, and Historic Resources Geographic Information System (GNAHRGIS) along with previous reports revealed no previously recorded archaeological sites or historic resources within the archaeological APE. Only two previously recorded archaeological sites (9CH770 and 9CH1033) have been recorded within a 1.0-kilometer (km) (0.62-mile) radius of the project tract. Both these previously recorded archaeological sites are not eligible for the NRHP and are located outside of the project APE. Therefore, no previously recorded cultural resources will be impacted by the proposed project.
Brockington’s archaeological field survey included systematic visual examination and 30-meter-interval shovel test excavations within the project tract. The historic architectural resource field survey involved driving and walking the project APE, with pedestrian inspection of all potentially historic resources. Our investigation identified one archaeological site (9CH1537) and three isolated finds. Site 9CH1537 is a mid- to late-twentieth-century storage site/dump site that consists of five 55-gallon steel drums. Site 9CH1537, along with the three isolated finds, are not eligible for the NRHP. No NRHP-eligible resources will be impacted by the proposed project, and further cultural resources management considerations are not warranted.
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