Are there treasures along the Satilla River? Who Knows, unless it’s researched and studied. What about pioneer settlements, ferry’s, bridges, or forts on the Satilla? The Georgia Coastal Management Program announced in Oct. 1997 the availability of Coastal Incentive Grants” to local governments for projects to increase public involvement in natural “water-way” resource protection and historical preservation. Brantley is identified as an inland coastal county whose history has been shaped by forces of the Satilla River. Potential historical and archeological values may be hidden in it’s “water-ways”. Several opinions already exist as to the actual site of ole Fort McIntosh, a revolutionary war fort. Where is it’s true location?
An application for a grant of $25,000 to study the possibility of historical and archeological values of the Satilla River within the Brantley Co. area has been initiated by Magistrate Judge Huey R. Ham, and filed on January 1, 1998. He was assisted by Michael Jacobs of SEGa RDC (Waycross), John R. Morgan (Staff Archaeologist) State Dept. of Natural Resources in Atlanta, and Earl Cleland, Brantley County Historical Society.
The grant application is designed to: (1) perform a background-archival research to find what is known about the county’s prehistoric, historic, and archaeological resources; (2) identify, inventory, and assess archaeological resources that remain; (3) conduct preliminary archaeological testing to evaluate which resources are worthy of preserving. The final step will be, “recommend for planning purposes what to do about resources identified as worthy of preserving.” Grant approvals will be made known in February, 1998.