Historic Property Treatment Plan: Arcaheological Data Recovery at the Grange Plantation Site, 9CH137, Chatham C ounty

The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) is planning to expand the Garden City Terminal's container storage area, located on the Savannah River about four miles upstream from Savannah (Figure 1). Development will include the grading and paving of large undeveloped portions of two tracts, construction of sea walls and bulkheads along the Savannah River, and other activities that are destructive to archeological remains. Site 9CH137 was investigated during the preliminary archeological survey of the property (Braley et al. 1994). This is a large (220 x 250 m), multi component site that occupies a well drained bluff overlooking the river (Figure 2). The major component is the Grange plantation site, dating from the 1700s to early 1800s. The site may also contain portions of the original Cowpens plantation and a "trading house" for the Indian deerskin trade, dating to the 1730s and 1740s. Documentary sources and the distributions of various classes of artifacts indicate the location of a slave village and the main house complex of the plantation. Lesser components date to the Late Archaic (ca. 1500 B.C.), Middle to Late Woodland (A.D. 500 - 900), Mississippian (A.D. 1300 - 1500) and Protohistoric (A.D. 1685 - 1730) periods. According to project engineers, construction of Container Berth 8 will require that the entire site be graded down by two to three feet, which will destroy the archeological deposits. Currently, the site is largely undisturbed as evidenced by its setting in a forest of mature live oaks, some of which appear to be several hundred years old. Other mature trees include mulberries; possibly these are the offspring of some of the mulberries that were planted during the Colonial period, when Georgians were experimenting with the silk industry. There is a thick under story of cassina (Ilex vomitoria) in some parts of the site, especially along the bluff overlooking the river. As a result of the survey, the site was recognized as a significant historic property. Both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Georgia's Historic Preservation Division concurred that 9CH137 is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The proposed construction will obliterate this site. Because the site is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, additional archeological study is required so that the GPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, are in compliance with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended.