An Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Kennesaw Mountain Multi-Use Trail, Cobb County, Georgia

In late June, 2001, Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) conducted an archeological survey of a portion of a proposed 3.6 m (12 it) wide multi-use path that Cobb County wishes to construct immediately adjacent to Stilesboro Road, Old U.S. 41, Kennesaw A venue and Tower Road in northern Cobb County. The 5.0 kin (3. 1 mi) portion of the trail surveyed begins at the visitors center in the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park and extends for a distance of3. 7 kin through park property along roads. The project width is variable, but generally extends no more than 8 m from the edge of existing pavement. Throughout the project corridor, most of the project area is composed of existing graded ditches and cut banks. Archival research indicated that no archeological sites had been recorded in the project area, that Civil War era resources (trenches or houses) would likely not occur in the project area, and that six twentieth century house sites and a cemetery could occur in or near the project area. The field survey confirmed the presence and boundaries of the cemetery and recorded three archeological sites and two isolate artifact occurrences. One of the sites is a twentieth century house site, and the other two are historic period artifact scatters. The other houses that once existed have been obliterated or lie outside of the project area. The cemetery lies on a wooded ridge top and extends to the very edge of a high cut bank for Kennesaw A venue. We recommend that none of the three sites or two occurrences are eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places because none are associated with important persons or events and none possess research potential. In addition, because the proposed project corridor is so narrow, the project will have virtually no effect on these sites. The cemetery, which has been identified as the Annandale Cemetery by the Cobb County Cemetery Preservation Commission, was not evaluated for eligibility because by design, it lies outside of the area of potential effect. It therefore does not fall under the jurisdiction of OCGA 36- 72-4. In consultation with the Cobb County Cemetery Preservation Commission, the project has been specially designed with a retaining wall to be built into the cut bank adjacent to the cemetery and the path to be narrowed to 2.4 m (8 ft) so as to avoid any effects to the cemetery. A fence will be placed around the cemetery. However, in accordance with procedures established by the Cobb County Cemetery Preservation Commission, we recommend that the cemetery be documented by close visual inspection, probing, measured drawings and photographs prior to construction.