Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of George Washington Memorial Parkway, Volume 1

WSP USA Inc; Tiffany, Raszick; John, Bedell

On behalf of the National Park Service (NPS), National Capital Region and the George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP), Louis Berger carried out a three-year Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of the GWMP north of Alexandria. This document presents the findings of the study in two volumes. Volume I contains a narrative of the history and archeology of the park, written to be accessible to park interpreters and the public; it does not contain sensitive information, such as the locations of archeological sites. Volume II contains the detailed archeological findings, organized geographically by site and survey area, along with detailed maps and other sensitive data. The study covers parts of GWMP-administered lands in Arlington and Fairfax counties and the City of Alexandria, all in Virginia. Arlington House and Arlington Ridge Park were excluded from field survey, as were sites like Fort Marcy and Claude Moore Colonial Farm. Theodore Roosevelt Island, which is in Washington, D.C., was covered in the documentary research phase, but the island was excluded from the field portion of the project and will be investigated further under a separate work order. The project area encompasses about 2,100 acres, of which approximately 70.75 acres received intensive field investigations. The main goals of the study were to document what has already been learned about the archeological resources of the park, to assess the archeological potential of both known sites and unexplored areas, to explore more of the park through field survey, and to carry out additional testing of selected sites to evaluate their significance. The project will assist the NPS in complying with Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Executive Order 11593, and the Archeological Resources Protection Act. This project does not constitute NHPA Section 106-level survey of the entire project area. The GWMP’s Cultural Resource Manager or other qualified personnel may decide that the survey reported here is adequate for Section 106 historic property identification responsibilities in certain locations for certain projects, but that determination must be made on a case-by-case basis. The project area has a history of investigations that goes back to the nineteenth century, and at least 79 archeological sites had already been recorded. The important sites that had been recorded in the project area were mainly prehistoric and Civil War sites; with the exception of the Mason house on Theodore Roosevelt Island, the historic domestic sites identified in the park date mainly to the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The prehistoric record is remarkable, with dozens of sites indicating intensive use of the Potomac Gorge area from the Terminal Archaic through Middle Woodland periods, with some use in the Early, Middle, and Late Archaic and the Late Woodland periods. The Civil War record includes forts, especially Fort Marcy; lesser earthworks; barracks areas for the forts’ defenders; and a camp of the U.S. Colored Troops on Theodore Roosevelt Island. During this three-year study 35 new archeological sites were identified, 47 previously recorded sites were revisited, and much was learned about the archeology and history of the GWMP.

Archeological Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of George Washington Memorial Parkway, Volume 1

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