Archaeological Investigation Proposed Parking Area Expansion Dowdell's Knob FDR State Park, Harris County

Parks, Recreation, and Historic Sites Division (PRHS) plans to expand the parking area at Dowdell's Knob in FDR State Park, Harris County (Figure 1). Dowdell's Knob was a favorite location of Franklin Roosevelt, and he visited there often. The knob, one of the highest elevations on Pine Mountain, is an area of exposed bedrock that lies at the end of a spur on the southern side of the main ridge. Roosevelt had a road built out to the knob in 1937. PRHS is currently raising funds to place a bronze sculpture of Roosevelt at Dowdell's Knob (Figure 2). Jack Weeks of PRHS contacted the Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA) and requested an archaeological investigation of the project area. Jack advised OSA of the presence of four small open pits located in the proposed project area and described revisions in the plan shown in Figure 2. Although the project area is at the same location, it will consist of a loop off the main road with parking spaces on either side of the loop road and not a few spaces along the main road as shown in Figure 2. Jack stated that he had flagged the centerline of the loop road. Based on results of this investigation, the proposed project will have no effect on significant archaeological resources and no further investigation is recommended. The pit features are interesting. No artifacts were found in association with the pits, suggesting that nothing was ever built, but the similarity, orientation, and arrangement of the four pits suggests that someone intended to construct a tower at this location, either for recreation or as a fire lookout. This is the highest elevation along this part of the ridge, and possibly the highest on Pine Mountain, so it would have been the ideal location to construct a tower. Even a small tower would have provided a good view of the surrounding area. The square pits suggest that there might have been plans for concrete piers to support the tower. Unfortunately, no records of a tower or plans to construct a tower have been found. It is possible that this was a CCC project that was abandoned when WWII started, so it may have some association with FDR, but this is speculation and the purpose of the pits will remain a mystery unless some reference to a planned tower or other structure turns up in archival records. The pits have been documented in this report and in the accompanying site form, a copy of which will be submitted to the Georgia Archaeological Site File. The pits are not considered to be significant archaeological resources by the State Archaeologist. Construction of the parking area will have no effect on significant archaeological resources and no further investigation is recommended.