Cultural Resources Survey of the Proposed Oglethorpe Power Corporation Training Center, Monroe County, Georgia

In a joint enterprise with the Georgia Electric Membership Corporation (GEMC), Oglethorpe Power Corporation is planning to build a training center facility in Monroe County, Georgia. The facility, located 8 km south of Forsyth, Georgia, will cover an 8 ha area. The proposed facility area has been partitioned from a larger tract (780 ha) of land purchased by Oglethorpe Power Corporation for the construction of the proposed 500 MW combustion turbine power plant (CT). A research design was prepared and reviewed by he Historic Preservation Section Office prior to the inception of fieldwork. The combustion turbine tract was surveyed intensively by Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. during 1988. The archeological report for the CT project was prepared during late 1988 and early 1989. Oglethorpe Power Corporation currently has copies of this report. The survey of the combustion turbine power plant tract located 83 archeological sites. A wide variety of prehistoric and historic sites were identified; they ranged in age from the Early Archaic through the twentieth century. Only one site, 9Mo444, was located n the land proposed for the construction of the training center. This site is a Woodland r Mississippian period site located on a ridge top some distance from water. The site was unusual in that it contained intact soil deposits in a heavily eroded project area. A total f 50 shovel tests and three I x I m test pits were excavated. Artifact density was low and here were no features present. The site is unlikely to contain any new or important information about the Woodland or Mississippian periods. It is recommended ineligible for the National Register of Historic Places. It is the opinion of the Principal Investigator that the proposed project will have no adverse impact to cultural resources in the proposed training center area.