Archeological Survey of the Proposed S.R.120/Abbotts Bridge Road at Jones Bridge Road Safety Improvement Project, Fulton County, Georgia

In January 2000, Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., (SAS) conducted an intensive archeological survey of a 1.5 km (0.9 mi) long corridor for the S.R. 120/Abbotts Bridge Road at Jones Bridge Road Safety Improvement Project in northern Fulton County, Georgia. The survey was conducted for Fulton County (through the engineering firm of Edwards Pittman Environmental) in anticipation of receiving State Department of Transportation funds for the project. For projects it funds, the state DOT requires consideration of potential resources in accordance with Federal Highway Administration standards. The proposed project includes improvements to S.R. 120/Abbotts Bridge Road and Jones Bridge Road near their intersection at the former crossroads community of Ocee. The project consists of the widening of the existing, two-lane roadway to a four-lane divided highway with a 6.1 m (20 ft) median. The entire project measures 2.5 km (1.6 mi). However, improvements to Jones Bridge Road were surveyed by SAS in 1997 as part of a larger project (Pluckhahn 1997). Therefore, the present study focused only on the 1.5 km of improvements to S.R. 120/Abbotts Bridge Road. Table 1 presents management information for the five sites in the project area. Combining archival research (mainly the use of old maps and aerial photographs) with field survey (visual inspection of exposed ground surfaces and shovel testing of obscured ground surfaces) one archeological site (9FU375) and one artifact occurrence (Occurrence 2) were discovered in the area of potential effect on S.R. 120/Abbotts Bridge Road as a result of the present survey. Both of these cultural resources date to the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Four sites (9FU304, 9FU305, 9FU306, and 9FU307) and one artifact occurrence (Occurrence 1) were noted within the area of potential effect along Jones Bridge Road on the previous survey. All of these sites are also late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century house sites. Occurrence 1 consists of a prehistoric lithic. All of the sites within the area of potential effect have been almost completely destroyed for the residential and commercial development that has taken place in the area in the past decade. None are likely to yield significant, new information about historic or prehistoric lifeways. Therefore, we recommend that these cultural resources are not eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and that no significant archeological resources will be adversely affected by the proposed undertaking.